Expect more Mall of Africa traffic woes this weekend

MIDRAND – Residents have been warned that traffic will be a nightmare on Allandale Road this coming weekend due to the Mall of Africa.

April 29, 2016

2 minutes read

The opening of the Mall of Africa on 28 April has highlighted a number of issues that come with developmental changes.

During the day, Midrand received a number of out of town visitors which meant only one thing – traffic.

Allandale Road could not cope with the number of cars and caused traffic backups, not only on the N1, but reportedly on the N3 and M1 as well.

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While Allandale was jam-packed, the flyover from the K101/Old Pretoria Main Road that leads into the mall was relatively quiet. This after the mall’s management had issued alerts about the bridge on their Twitter page, drivers still queued unnecessarily on Allandale Road.

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“This is crazy, I have to be inside as my offices are inside,” said Midrand resident, Jason Stokoe, who had been stuck in traffic for more than two hours.

“[If this continues] they’re going to have to add more lanes.”

Two taxi ranks have been built at the mall. One near the K101 flyover and one near the Magwa Crescent entrance from Maxwell Drive. Sello Manyama, a Rabie Ridge taxi driver, said their rank which houses three associations, Tembisa, Ivory Park and Rabie Ridge is relatively empty.

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“There are no signs that let people know where to find us, we have spoken to mall management about this, though,” said Manyana. He also said he was hopeful that the number of public transport users would increase in the coming days.

Edna Monyane, spokesperson for the Johannesburg Metro Police Department, however, said this was unlikely. “It is month-end, the long weekend is coming up and there are still specials happening at the mall. People will probably think their cars are much more convenient as they would be able to come and go as they please,” she said.

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Monyane added that they were still expecting high traffic volumes around the mall, which would affect the N1, N3 and the M1. “The N3 and the M1 are feeder roads onto the N1, so congestion on Allandale, which affects the N1, will have [a ripple effect on the other two] as patrons are expected to come from the south and east of Johannesburg.”