City of Joburg through Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) upgraded road markings recently.
Executive mayor Clr Herman Mashaba said road markings formed part of a number of events across the city set to commemorate Transport Month, which is meant to encourage responsible behaviour by all road-users across the city.
“Road markings are one of the most important ways of maintaining high levels of safety, as well as enabling ease of road use by pedestrians and drivers. In order to do this, one has to ensure that road markings are visible,” he said.
Mashaba said the visibility of road markings depends primarily on the contrast between the markings and the adjacent portions of the road surface.
“A number of different road marking products are available in South Africa. Most of the road markings used on our roads in the past were solvent-based paint which was applied using high-pressure spray paint systems. These markings are particularly thin and not durable.
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“In a bid to improve the quality of road markings, the city has introduced the use of new material which will allow for more durable road markings.
“Due to the ever-increasing traffic volumes, a move towards the increased utilisation of thermoplastic and cold plastic materials has been identified. The thermoplastic material can be sprayed to a thickness of some 1.4mm providing a significantly more durable marking,” he said.
Mashaba said the CoJ has set aside a budget of R1.2 billion for the JRA in its capital budget.
“There are approximately 1 169 km of gravel roads in the city and 90 per cent are in the townships or informal settlements. To completely eradicate all gravel roads, we would require an investment of approximately R8.1-billion. With respect to marking of our roads, R48-million has already been utilised with more work set to continue,” he said.
