Dangerous hole on Coleraine Drive threatens residents’ safety
A persistent hole at 16 Coleraine Drive, Riverclub, caused by a burst water pipe, has left residents voicing their concerns over safety and traffic disruptions as repairs remain unresolved for over 10 months.
A massive hole at 16 Coleraine Drive, Riverclub, has been a constant thorn in the side of residents for over 10 months, leaving many worried about their safety.
The hole, which was caused by a burst water pipe, has not been properly addressed, leaving the road in a precarious state.
A resident, Lynne Fiser, said: “It’s a life-threatening situation. No one at Johannesburg Water (JW) is concerned about the danger of the road and traffic. This is how they left the hole after they repaired the pipe. One lane is completely blocked, and Coleraine Drive is a busy road,”
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Ward 103 councillor Lynda Shackelford said according to JW the issue has become an extraordinary situation where it was not just one fix, but two fixes, on the pipe system.
“JW was on-site the last time on December 20, but they went on leave, and they were back on-site yesterday, January 22,” Shackelford said. “They’re already doing work, but what they’re doing is not working. They’ve ordered something else, and they’re hoping to be back on-site tomorrow [January 24] to do the repairs.
“If that repair happens, and there are no other issues, they will then leave that hole open for at least another week, just to ensure that the repair actually holds.”
Shackelford said, with regards to the road, unfortunately, there is nowhere else at the moment to put the sand. “As a councillor, I have logged it, escalated it, and highlighted the concerns of the residents with regards to the sand in the road.
“It started off that it was just blocking a portion of the road last year, and then, as they excavated the site, they took over more and more of the one lane heading south. They cleaned it up, but every time it rains, the sand comes down and spreads more into the road,” she added.
Shackelford said she has alerted JW that the road is very dangerous, especially at night, and asked them to, at least, put enough warning for motorists.
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Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) acting HOD regional operations Makhosi Ndaba said that JRA has conducted an assessment to the damaged road and discovered that it was due to a water pipe burst. “The issue was escalated to JW as JRA will only be able to provide timelines for repairing the damaged road once JW has repaired the leaking pipe.
“As part of our service level agreement with JW, they take full responsibility for ensuring public safety while working on public roads, until such time that the site has been handed over to JRA to conduct road repairs,” Ndaba said.
JW was contacted on January 22 and reminded on January 24, but, at the time of print, there was still no response.
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