Intersection of Clarence and Buckingham avenues finally gets attention

The intersection of Clarence and Buckingham avenues in Craighall Park has been in a state for several years.

Finally, motorists and pedestrians can use it with less risk after the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) began repairing the intersection’s fragmented stormwater drains on February 24.

The intersection has been in a poor state since August last year after a broken cement pipe was dug up by Johannesburg Water, which is battling a backlog of reinstatements.

Ward 90 councillor Martin Williams said he started getting joy when he contacted senior officials from both entities.

“Getting action was another matter. In February, members higher up the JRA chain began applying more pressure on their regional and depot colleagues. Towards the end, I called the depot daily and received assurances about when the work would commence but held back on publicising these dates due to not being confident about when the deadline commitments would be met, which they were not.”

JRA’s acting head of regional operations Langeriwa Mthombeni said the work order for the reinstatement work was received from Joburg Water on February 16.

“The water pipe repairs were undertaken and completed by Joburg Water, as per their wayleave application with the JRA to excavate the road and repair their pipe infrastructure. Once Joburg Water completes their work, they submit a final work order to the JRA to reinstate the road and the curb slabs.
“The JRA thereafter scheduled reinstatement works for this week, February 27. The team is currently on site and reinstatement will be completed before the end of March 1.”

Craighall Residents Association’s Samantha Herman thanked the JRA. “We are hopeful that some of the other long-standing repairs in the suburb will now also be attended to, such as the one on the corner of Buckingham and Jan Smuts avenues. This is a major intersection with a major excavation site and has been a mess for a few years now.” Herman added it causes tremendous traffic and safety issues.

She highlighted that the association had noted the City of Johannesburg’s by-laws.
“According to the by-laws: Any excavation left unattended for more than five days, should have been made safe by the road authority. Given the procedural requirements and the need to ensure road safety and minimise disruption to road users, the backfilling and reinstatement should ideally have been completed within a few days to a week at most, certainly not several months later as observed in this situation.

“Thus, the delay of almost seven months from the repair date until the backfilling and reinstatement began violates the expectation for timely completion outlined in the by-laws, potentially exposing road users to unnecessary risks and inconvenience.”

Related article: Johannesburg Water to start backfilling an exposed pipe and hole on Louis Botha Avenue and Houghton Drive