I travel along Putfontein Road daily, passing the Sasol garage where I normally put in petrol.
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It has become very inconvenient for me to enter this garage because of the island that was just erected on Putfontein Road.
Many other people are also concerned about the inconvenience caused.
I can’t understand why such an island was put up on such a narrow road.
There is a Sasol garage on Pretoria Road with no island, despite this road being busier than Putfontein Road.
There is an Engen garage on 14th Avenue, Northmead which also does not have an island.
Why is it that the same rule does not apply to these two garages, not to mention others?
Are certain areas getting preference?
Editor’s note:
Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) spokesperson Themba Gadebe replies:
The filling station to which the petitioner refers has been in operation for a number of years and always had two full access points on both Putfontein and Cloverdene roads.
At that stage Putfontein Road was a single road with one lane in each direction all the way up to the four-way stop.
Chief Albert Luthuli Park and Crystal Park is continuing to develop rapidly to such an extent that Putfontein Road had to be upgraded in 2014/15, including the above-mentioned intersection.
In addition to this, the property adjacent to the filling station has obtained the rights to develop a shopping centre, which is currently in progress.
One of the conditions of which the developer of the shopping centre had to comply with was to appoint a registered professional traffic engineer to conduct a traffic impact study, as well as an access proposal for both the shopping centre and the filling station.
One of the recommendations with regard to safety in the approved traffic impact study was that a solid barrier (median) had to be constructed, to restrict the filling station and shopping centre access off Putfontein Road to left-in, left -out access only.
This prevents dangerous right-turn movements off Putfontein Road into and out of both the filling station and the shopping centre.
It must be noted that the full access of the filling station, onto Cloverdene Road remains unchanged.
The intersection has also been signalised in the meanwhile by the developer, which also helps to make the access to the filling station easier.
The fact that other filling stations on other roads have direct access does not mean that it is acceptable, as two wrongs don’t make a right, and should regular accidents start to occur, or complaints be received at those filling stations, EMM will take the necessary steps to ensure the safety of the general public.
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