Neglected M7 needs urgent attention

THE overgrown verge and lack of maintenance along the M7 from Queensburgh towards Pinetown has become an issue of safety and a reason for accidents and criminal activity in the area.

According to resident, Penny Oliver, this road is arguably one of the busiest in the country given that it is the most direct route to the Durban port precinct.

Also read: LISTEN: Two men killed in M7 crash | Highway Mail

“Hundreds of trucks use the road on a daily basis, and it is also a major access route for many neighbourhoods, school-goers and general commuters. I recently travelled around South Africa and nowhere in the country did I encounter any other road, national or municipal, that was so badly neglected and unkempt,” said Oliver.

She said the state of the road is of grave concern to the community for many reasons.

“We, as a community, believe that many of these accidents can be attributed to poor visibility and/or debris in the road from previous accidents, dumping and littering. The road is fundamentally not safe to use,” she said.

She said the unkempt state promotes criminal activity along the length of the road.

Also read: PHOTOS: One dead, eight injured in M7 horror crash | Highway Mail

Ward 63 councillor, Chris van den Berg, who is aware of this problem, said the M7 has become a death-trap and is of major concern to road users and also people living alongside it.

He agreed the road is a major one in and out of Durban harbour for trucks and is also a main route used by people going to and from work.

“This section of road has the steepest gradient between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. Lack of regular maintenance has caused a number of problems, coupled with bad and inconsiderate driving, which leads to accidents. Road users have been complaining for a long time now,” he said.

The vegetation along the M7 has been left to become excessively overgrown, obstructing the road and the vision of drivers.

“The Mexican Daisy is one of the fast growing weeds causing a problem on the M7, especially around the on and off-ramps that not only needs to be cut but needs to be eradicated as it is fast growing and grows very tall. Damages to the road includes potholes, bridges that need expansion joints seen to and the Charles Winser Road bridge has damage where a truck hit it as well,” said van den Berg.

He pointed out that there are also damages from previous accidents that have not been repaired and also damages from storms that have not been seen to.

There is a compulsory stop for trucks that is on the east-bound highway, just passed the Bellville Road bridge, but few trucks stop and this should be monitored.

Van den Berg said he held a meeting with the Department of Transport with regards to remedial work on the M7 section under his jurisdiction.

And a meeting was held with one of the contractors, where he and the contractor drove along the M7 stopping where possible to note issues and damage.

“From this site meeting I then put a report through to Department of Transport of all the issues I had seen, including the overgrowth and drainage problems,” he added.

Department of Transport and eThekwini Municipality says verge will be cut between February and March

In a response from the department sent to resident Penny Oliver, the department admitted that the department of Transport Cost Centre Metro Office is responsible for maintenance on M7.

“We do acknowledge that the current condition of the road verge is not up to standard. And we apologise for time delays that has passed while the conditions has not been addressed. The order for verge maintenance on M7 is in the pipeline, However due to urgency of the situation on Tuesday, 6 Feb we generated an order for another road. We will move the contractor from that road to M7. The contractor should be starting on site towards the end of this week or early next week.

We also acknowledge that the current system used to maintain the major routes such as M7 is not effective anymore. We are engaging internally and with other stake holders such as ETH Municipality to device a system that will be most effective.”
The municipality said that they are in talks with the Department of Transport to take over these roads.

“This could only be towards the latter part of 2018. DOT officials have said that the M7 will be cut in Feb /March 2018. If community cut the verge please be aware that there could public liability issue if in the process of cutting a windscreen etc is damaged by a stone.”

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