Finally! Some of your roadwork questions answered

As any Fourways resident can tell you, the roadworks in our area have been a nightmare to negotiate these past few weeks. While we know roadworks are underway, the details of what exactly is happening have been few and far between.

This week, Fourways Review set out to get you some answers.

On 11 May, the Fourways Review spoke to Mike Taylor from Jodan Construction, who is the contracts manager for the current roadworks on Cedar Road, as well as Schalk van Wyk, who is the employer’s agent representative on the site (meaning that he is present on site on behalf of the organisations that are financing the in project).

Taylor explained, “I live in Bloubosrand and my family lives Sandton, and I understand what it’s like to have to drive these roads and wait in traffic during all the work. I just want people to understand that if we don’t upgrade the area’s roads now they will continue to deteriorate, as the roads in this area have not been upgraded in about 20 years.”

Here are some of the things we were able to find out:

• Several projects occurring simultaneously?

  When asked if perhaps projects could have been scheduled to be done one at a time, instead of all at once, Taylor pointed out, “I can’t speak for why all the contracts were awarded at the same time, but I would think it’s better to have one year of mass disruption to complete all the upgrading at once, than to do one project after the other having construction in the area continuing in the area for the next five or 10 years.”

• All the projects are managed by different companies.

  Although it is widely believed that all the current roadworks are part of a single project, Taylor explained that there are in fact several different projects being completed in the area at once, each project is managed by a different team, and in some cases even different construction companies. Taylor and his colleagues are only working on Cedar Road and close surrounds and, therefore, cannot provide information on traffic issues that aren’t part of their remit.

• The Cedar Road roadworks contract is an 11-month contract, from January until 18 December this year.

  Taylor and Van Wyk are happy to report to community members that the construction is currently running on schedule, even though delays were experienced with labour unrest and rain in the first few months.

• No-work weekends apply.

  According to Taylor, when Jodan Construction was awarded the tender for this project (through due process), the contract stipulated that work would be completed in a normal five-day work week, in terms of labour law, and that Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays are no-work days.

• Only intersections earn weekend-work.

  The only time that weekend work is permitted is when Cedar Road intersections are under construction. In this case, work will be done on Saturdays or Sundays.

• Cedar Road is funded by several entities.

  The rehabilitation and construction of Cedar Road currently underway in Fourways is being jointly funded by The Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport and the company behind the Steyn City developments.

• More space for Cedar.

  After construction work on Cedar Road is complete, there will be two lanes heading in both directions (four lanes in total), unlike currently where some stretches have only a single lane each way. There will also be separate slip lanes where necessary for turning off of the road.

• Fourways Life Hospital?

  Jodan Construction is aware of community member’s complaints with regards to gaining entry into the Fourways Life Hospital. Therefore, Taylor and others have organised with hospital management that the gate at the back of the hospital, which can be accessed via Elm Road, be used. Taylor stressed that this gate can only be used by emergency vehicles, and private vehicles that are transporting people in need of urgent medical assistance.

• Taxi ranks to be constructed.

  Provision has been made for the establishment of at least five taxi ranks on Cedar Road. There will be one on either side of Stinkwood Road, as well as one on either side of Lombardy Road.

• Walkways and pavements get tended to as well.

  As well as creating more lanes all along Cedar, work is also focused on resurfacing the current road and on installing kerbs and pedestrian walkways.

• Uranium Road is halfway there.

  The construction on the stretch of Uranium Road to Witkoppen Road has been completed on the left-hand side. The next phase of construction on this particular stretch will be on the right side, and this road should be completed by mid-June. Taylor believes that once this road is free of construction, it should go a long way to easing traffic flow in the area.

• Pointsmen have been appointed.

  The pointsmen who are currently seen daily on Cedar were appointed (and financed) by Jodan Construction. They will be on duty every weekday during peak times (between 6am to 9am and 3pm to 6pm), and cost about R120 000 per month.

• No daily rate pay.

  Workers are not paid a daily rate (as some complainants have claimed), instead Jodan Construction is paid for completed and approved work on the project.

• Construction is not allowed to interfere with services.

  Workers for the construction company are not allowed to interfere with any of the services in the area, such as power cables, fibre optic lines, water pipes etc. These had to be located and either moved by the service provider or protected for construction to commence. This process was only completed towards the end of March. This also explains why the current construction was not done during April’s numerous public holidays – workers had to first ensure that other services were known about and addressed.

• Remain in your lane.

  During construction there has only been one incident of injury among the construction workers. The incident occurred when a motorcyclist collided with a labourer within the demarcated construction area. The labourer was taken to hospital with a suspected broken hip, but fortunately his hip was only heavily bruised. Jodan appealed to motorists to remain within their demarcated lanes.

The Gauteng Provincial Department of Roads and Traffic (GPDRT) released an official statement on 11 May notifying motorists to expect delays on Cedar Road (D1027) in Fourways as a result of a road upgrade project aimed at widening Cedar Road into a dual carriageway.

The R80-million project, their statement said, is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) between the Department of Roads and Transport and Steyn City Development, and is expected to run over 11 months.

Here’s a basic timeline of what to expect:

• Witkoppen Road to Uranium Street – This section of the road is expected to be completed by late June. To allow for movement of traffic between Witkoppen Road to Uranium Street, traffic has been moved contraflow to the right-hand carriageway while construction continues on the left carriageway.
• Uranium Street to Valley Road is due for completion by mid-November.
• Uranium Street to Stinkwood Close construction work has commenced on the left-hand carriageway and traffic will contraflow on the right carriageway.
• Stinkwood Close to Valley Road work has commenced on the right carriageway with traffic contraflow on the left carriageway.

As soon as construction is completed in any particular area, traffic will be moved contraflow onto the newly constructed lane and work will commence on the other carriageway. The department also appeals for patience to all road users and apologises for the inconvenience caused.

And now for Fourways Mall …

Following the eventual publication of an official statement from Fourways Mall regarding roadworks around the shopping centre (a project running concurrently with the rest of the roadworks in Fourways, although not under the same project management), Future City Fourways took issue with communications about the roadworks in a Facebook status released on 11 May.

Their critiques on the matter included:

• That the communication and forewarning provided to the community was almost non-existent, and this is not even addressed in the [latest] communications [on the matter].
• Future City Fourways had to call for additional pointsmen and JMPD deployments, and there is no explanation as to why this wasn’t covered in the planning of the upgrades. It’s clear that the coverage of the other pointsmen supplied was only partial.
• It doesn’t seem to have occurred to the said developers the extent of the utter gridlock their works have caused or the severity of its impact on our community.
• Whilst its appreciated that R280 million is being spent on road upgrades, or so we are told, most developments have to be accompanied by regulatory road widening to address traffic compliances so the road works were not undertaken for purely altruistic purposes.
• The opinion of the developers that a staggered approach to the roadworks would be worse and no explanation why work could not be conducted after hours, during public holidays and stage by stage to reduce the massive impact on our community is respectfully questioned to say the least.
• The fact remains that notwithstanding the ‘spin’ produced, the impact to the community was not properly considered and could have been mitigated to some extent by a different approach. In the meantime our community is subjected to horrendous gridlock and must just suck it up.

Fourways Review will keep the community updated on this ongoing story.