Joburg, not a pedestrian-friendly city
JOBURG - A pedestrian-friendly and walkable urban environment is the vision for Joburg's inner city. This according to a statement released by the City of Joburg in May 2011.
Again, in April 2014 the City of Johannesburg announced that it had put into place plans to change the face of transport in the city and to make it more cycle- and pedestrian-friendly.
However, looking at the state of Joburg North pavements, it would appear that turning this vision into a reality may still be a challenge for the Johannesburg Roads Agency.
Earlier this year in February, spokesperson for the roads agency apologised for the “delay in repairing damaged sidewalks” and said teams were busy with the reinstatement of the pavements reported to them by the Gazette, however, two months later it would appear that pavements are still not being prioritised.
Concerned Parkview resident Ian Hudson said the pavement just off the corner of Jan Smuts Avenue and Lower Park Drive is still not fully repaired.
This was in response to a photo printed in the Gazette, week ending 16 May with the caption: “A pavement on Jan Smuts Avenue had been left unrepaired earlier this year. The Joburg Roads Agency has since fixed it.”
“You can’t call putting back some of the sand and removing the yellow barricades fixing the sidewalk,” said Hudson.
“Much of the rubble and cement tiles lying there still make it impossible to walk on the sidewalk.”
Spokesperson of the Joburg Roads Agency, Bertha Peters-Scheepers, said the roads agency was aware of the road defects in lower Greenside, Parkhurst, Parktown and Craighall.
“Team members from the depots are doing their best to minimise the problems,” she said.
“Most of the areas that have been dug up and left unattended were done by contractors from other companies or entities, the JRA has arranged for a meeting with the entities concerned to tackle these issues.”
Peters-Scheepers said the roads agency depot teams had undertaken to start working on the unrepaired pavements reported to them as from Monday 26 May.
Take a photo of an unrepaired pavement in your area and send it to rkg@caxton.co.za and we will send the complaint to Joburg Roads Agency.
