Fatal crash highlights concerns at Modderfontein Road and Emerald Boulevard intersection

Non-functioning traffic lights at the intersection of Modderfontein Road and Emerald Boulevard continue to irk motorists.

ALSO READ: Nightmare intersection needs attention

With collisions reported at the intersection regularly, Ward 32 councillor Dimakatso Moloisane said the latest outage was first reported in September last year.

He said between himself and residents the list of reference numbers for the intersection grows by the day.

Frustrations for residents and motorists reached boiling point when on March 27 two people were killed at the intersection.

Just two days later on March 29 another crash between a taxi, a JMPD vehicle and another driver of a private vehicle occurred.

Moloisane said every time issues are reported at the intersection promises are made that the matter would be escalated but no one ever goes out to repair lights at the intersection.

He said the unmaintained intersection, especially when it comes to cutting the grass, also posed a safety hazard.
Moloisane met the NEWS at the intersection on March 29. Debris from the crash earlier that morning lay strewn across the intersection. The JMPD vehicle involved in the crash was still on the scene.

Moloisane pointed out how drivers simply skip the intersection hardly slowing down for other traffic.

“Residents of Greenstone who are never late with paying their accounts shouldn’t be subjected to such shocking level of service delivery.”

He added that residents are at the point where they want to take legal action against the City.

Resident Andrea Pearson said the only time anyone from the City responds to residents is on Twitter.

“The traffic lights have been faulty for over a year and nothing gets done. How many more injuries and deaths until we can claim the City has been negligent in repairing the traffic signals?”

ALSO READ: Reader agrees on death-trap intersection

The NEWS sent a formal enquiry to the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) regarding the numerous complaints about the deadly intersection on March 29. The same day, technicians were dispatched to repair the traffic lights.

On March 30, the NEWS received reports that the traffic lights were again not working. On March 31, the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) media team made contact with the NEWS to request an extension to the deadline for comment.

During the phone call, the NEWS informed the media team of the latest outage and a comment was promised by the close of business the same day.

In response to the NEWS’ enquiry, the JRA’s Kelebogile Mafa said that although the intersection is a provincial road, the JRA was responsible for the maintenance of the traffic lights.

“The intersection has been affected by a power-related fault that was escalated to City Power. The City Power technical team was on-site on March 29 for power cable repairs,” Mafa said.

“The JRA team received another report at the same intersection on March 31, which was a twisted signal head, all the lights were still functioning. The twisted head was fixed and at 16:00 on March 31 the Modderfontein Road and Emerald Boulevard traffic lights are fully functional.”

Mafa added that JRA was responsible for the repair and maintenance of traffic lights across the City of Johannesburg.

“To date the JRA services close to 2 500 signalised intersections across the City.”

There are ongoing discussions between the City of Johannesburg and the Gauteng Provincial Department of Roads and Transport over maintenance agreements for provincial roads such as Modderfontein Road.

“Once an agreement has been reached, a public notice will be communicated. Until such a time, we still encourage road users to report issues to the City of Johannesburg for repairs.”

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