Residents of Kyalami Agricultural Holdings have approached Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) to request for Zinnia, Salvia and Rena roads to be closed off.
This is because motorists who want to avoid the traffic on Main Road speed down these roads.
Barbie Gertenbach of the horse riding school, Riba Stables, said big trucks carrying heavy loads and taxis speed on the small farm roads. She added, “This is not safe for any of us, we have horse riders and a daycare close to the roads, one of the vehicles could seriously injure someone.”
Gertenbach said a rider and horse of Riba Stables were injured after being struck by a car a few years ago.
Ward 94 councillor David Foley said residents had signed a petition in this regard. “The residents and I had a meeting with a JRA engineer in relation to speed bumps but this request was declined,” he added. “We requested to then close off Salvia and Rena roads from the Zinnia side as both roads are used as shortcuts. The roads are not wide enough to handle large volumes of traffic and speeding vehicles.”
JRA spokesperson Mosa Makhalima said the agency did not object against the proposal for road closures. “JRA declined the proposal for speed humps, given the fact that the streets currently do not have any streetlights nor formal stormwater structures. Speed humps require a high level of visibility at night and can impact on the diversion of stormwater into driveways and can therefore not be supported at this stage,” he explained.
“Rumble strips were previously installed in the area but the noise associated with it caused problems with the horses and they were therefore removed. In the absence of street lights, the implementation of any form of vertical traffic calming measures is not advisable.”
Makhalima added that the agency advised that the community had the option to either apply for a permanent road closure which was administered by the City of Joburg’s transportation department or for a temporary security access restriction application which was administered through the agency.
Details: To apply for security access restrictions contact Carol Moalusi at cmoalusi@jra.org.za
