Hillcrest residents frustrated over unfinished road surface

A HILLCREST resident, Tony Fisher, has commended the KZN Provincial Roads Department and its main contractor, Martin and East, for the beautiful new multi-lane highway in Hillcrest, but was irked to think of how the finishing touches have simply been ignored.

He said a few months ago, the long process to upgrade the road from Hillcrest to Waterfall was created and in mid-December, the main contractor, Martin and East, took themselves off site after ‘completing’ the few remaining jobs, the last of which was the important and busy traffic light intersection at Inanda Road/Hilltop Road/West Riding Road/Wishart Road. Just prior to them packing up, Fisher spoke to one of their site agents to find out when the final tar surface at this intersection would be undertaken, to which the site agent replied, ‘Early in the new year’.

“Well it is now almost the end of April with the second quarter looming and there is no evidence of this work being attended to – the result being two different levels from the above-mentioned roads onto Inanda Road. Apart from looking shabby and incomplete, the different road surfaces are most unpleasant to negotiate with the added possibility of tyre sidewalls being damaged by contact with the sharp edges of the gutter sections,” said Fisher.

He said he is a resident who depends entirely on this intersection for access to his road, with no such luck.

Highway Mail contacted the contractor, Martin and East, as well as the KZN provincial roads department for comment two weeks ago, but both companies shifted responsibility back and forth. Eventually, the KZN provincial roads department said they would respond to questions once they has spoken to the correct officials. Two weeks later and still no comment from them.