Cedar Road traffic is too much for residents
BROADACRES - Cedar Road in Broadacres has a reputation, among residents, for being jam-packed with traffic as well as being a hub for bad behaviour among residents.
Resident Pat Hemphill said, “Back to school and traffic jams again, same old, same old.” She explained that vehicles are often stuck in traffic jams all along Cedar Road.
Exacerbating the bumper-to-bumper traffic on Cedar Road are the traffic lights at the intersection of Cedar and Witkoppen roads that are frequently out of order.
Ward 96 councillor, Matome Mafokwane, said he received numerous complaints from motorists who use Cedar Road about both the non-functioning traffic lights and bad driving behaviour among motorists.
“The Johannesburg Roads Agency has, on numerous occasions, come out to deal with traffic light functionality,” he said. “We have tried to address the question of short time duration between light changes, especially near Cedar Square.”
According to Bertha Peters-Scheepers, spokesperson for the Johannesburg Roads Agency, there have been six instances of traffic light non-functionality at the intersection of Cedar and Witkoppen roads, but only one of the incidents was due to cable fault. The rest were due to power failures or issues with power supply to the intersection. “Unfortunately, power outages result in protracted repair times, which impacts on the standard customer service repair turnaround time for traffic lights of 24 hours, as the roads agency requires the intervention from the specific power supply entity,” she said.
Peters-Scheepers said the roads agency has finalised service legal agreements with their power supply entities to streamline the fault repair process. The roads agency will also soon be rolling out a remote monitoring system for early detection and automatic reporting of signal faults from the street, which means there will be quicker response and repair time-frames.
Mafokwane implored residents to be patient and to observe the rules of the road simply because it is in their best interest to do so.
“Once the Cedar Road upgrades commence, motorists should expect massive congestion and delays and we may see a spike of more incidents of frustration and intolerance by motorists,” he said.
“I appeal to residents for patience during this period and beyond.”
