THE tedious exercise of motorists slowly making their way through a long line of traffic in the R59 tunnel bridge which leads to the N12 has been under construction allegedly since December last year, has motorists at their wits end.
“They are replacing connections at their own cost as the original connections were not effective due to the vibration inside the tunnel from the traffic,” explained Elka Pakendorf on behalf of General Manager of Communications at SANRAL, Vusi Mona.
Although the connection snags which have resulted in a number of the unique green coloured lights blowing out, are said to be due to a much greater issue.
“It is quite hazardous working in the tunnel and the contractor can only work for part of a day,” added Elka. “They are close to completion and a final inspection will be held this month.”
We were told by the inspector on sight that the main reason for the lengthy construction is actually caused by cable thieves. Metres of cable were stolen in December when thieves gained entry to the underground connection boxes and helped themselves to as much as they could take.
“Some cables were stolen last year, when there was no power supply from the Council. They lost their connection” added SANRAL Official.
As a preventative measure to cable theft SANRAL’s cables have been embedded in solid concrete at depth of 1.5 metres where they will not be easy to steal or vandalise. They also have security in place as back-up.
