Traffic solution urgently sought
Patients at risk on crowded Richards Bay thoroughfare.
WHILE the erection of Richards Bay’s new oncology centre has been a blessing to the town and region, it has further exacerbated a major parking crisis in the town’s ‘medical hub’.
At the heart of the problem is the narrow thoroughfare Lira Link, which serves the Richards Bay Medical Institute (RBMI), Netcare The Bay Hospital rear entrance, a number of medical and specialist practices, business blocks and the Department of Labour, among others.
Feeding from Premium Promenade, thousands of cars and delivery vehicles stream up and down Lira Link each day, often at excessive speed.
Such is the problem that two wheelchair patients are known to have been hit by passing vehicles and a number of near misses have been reported.
While the RBMI’s own 120-vehicle parking will ease the congestion somewhat when it opens in three months’ time, CEO Mark Palmer believes that will not solve the problem.
He brought the matter to the City of uMhlathuze Ward 2 committee meeting, where a number of alternatives were debated.
One is to close off one end of Lira Link; another is to make it a one-way road.
‘The lack of parking is critical,’ said Palmer, who has tried his best to implement traffic calming measures.
‘Vehicles park on the pavements, and many double park to drop off or fetch patients.
‘They are obviously moving slowly and the traffic is not, so the danger is obvious.
‘And it is not made easier by the fact that the Department of Labour uses all the parking in its grounds for its own staff while the public are forced to park in the street.’
Adding to the congestion will be the construction later this year of the new Richards Bay magistrate’s court, directly opposite the Lira Link entry on Premium Promenade (next to KFC).
