Eduvos Midrand campus concerned over narrow road and potholes
The Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) has committed to fix the Alsation Road potholes by June 3, 2022.
A narrowing Alsatian Road in Glen Austin due to huge potholes has got Eduvos Midrand campus concerned.
The potholes have apparently not been repaired for three years and campus manager Cynthia Lawrence said the dilapidated state of public roads in the Midrand area urgently needed attention on a large scale.
She said Alsatian Road, which leads to their campus from Allandale Road, was not only used by their staff and students, but by other motorists as a detour from Allandale Road to get onto Old Pretoria Road.
“It carries a lot of traffic and there is hardly enough space for two cars to pass, never mind the depilated state of the road that is in a life-threatening state currently. This has been a problem for the past three years. You will notice that it is not necessary potholes but it is erosion of the entire road,” said Lawrence.
She said more than 2 300 students and an average of 200 staff and contractors accessed the campus weekly.
National facilities and properties manager of Eduvos Thomas Thiebaut said the road was partially collapsing, and had not been maintained for a significant period.
“We are very concerned about the well-being and safety of all road users, and many pedestrian students in the area. Cars need to venture into oncoming traffic on the wrong side of the road to bypass deep potholes. The road is also too narrow to accommodate two wide cars simultaneously,” said Theibaut.
Media officer of the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) Kelebogile Mafa said the potholes on Alsatian Road have been prioritised for repairs under the A Re Sebetseng service delivery programme which would soon tackle a backlog of road defects in and around Midrand.
“Work is scheduled to be carried out and completed on June 3, 2022. The JRA has programmes such as road resurfacing projects geared to address roads that have badly deteriorated, this is in addition to the scheduled maintenance for pothole repairs. This should result in significant progress in resolving most road defects,” added Mafa.
When asked what led to the backlog Mafa said, “Covid-19. The depot has been operating at 30% capacity due to the pandemic and the heavy storms since December. The JRA is now operating with full-capacity staff which will allow the regional team to cover most of the backlog accumulated over the lockdown period.”
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