K58 Road upgrade to be completed at the end of August

Motorists can look forward to no longer taking detours and spending hours in traffic as the long-awaited Allandale Road (K58) upgrade is expected to be completed in August.

Ward 132 councillor Annette Deppe and the road upgrade contractors — Lonerock Construction, and WSP resident engineer Kobus Bouwer confirmed that a significant amount of work had been done on the construction scope and that the entire project will be completed by the end of August this year.

The project was overseen by the Department of Roads and Transport and commenced in October 2021 for 22 months.

Among the work completed so far, is the Maple Drive left-turn and right-turn intersection. Residents fought tooth and nail with the department and the contractors as the road upgrade sketch indicated that there would no longer be a right turn at the intersection.

This left residents frustrated as they wanted the left turn to remain. They had many meetings with the contractors organised by the councillor and this even led some residents to believe that the project would take longer than anticipated.

However, the right turn lane was finally approved by the department, and after weeks of motorists using a temporary route to enter and exit Maple Drive, the permanent intersection was officially opened on April 25.

Resident Amish Chana said the road upgrade seems to be progressing well, and the detours at the intersection and along K58 are understandable.

“The ward councillor has been helpful and communicating with both contractors and residents. Lonerock also has a permanent point-person at the intersection directing traffic during the day, Monday to Friday. This helps with alleviating traffic backlogs,” Chana explained.

Point-person at the intersection, Salome Bogopa, said traffic flows freely during the day, but in the morning it becomes congested.

Deppe said she is excited that the upgrade is finally coming to an end and applauds the stakeholders involved in this project for delivering the service that people need in time.

“It has been a success. My negotiations started with Jacob Mamabolo the then MEC for transport almost three years ago,” said Deppe.

“He [Mamabolo] finally approved the budget and the project for K73 [Montrose Road] and Allandale went out. There were many public meetings but no work stoppages and we even managed to ensure that business forums were included,” she concluded.

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