Moloto Road: R4.5 billion upgrade on ‘road of death’ going at snail’s pace

Progress on the R4.5 billion Moloto Road upgrade has seemingly been at a snail’s pace, with only four intersections completed to date since the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) assumed responsibility for the Mpumalanga and Limpopo parts of the 162km road in 2015.

But Sanral said a lot of work had been done, particularly by the agency’s routine road management (RRM) unit, as before everything else, the first intervention was to maintain the road and bring it to national standard.

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The agency has, however, assured the public that upgrades on the 162km stretch of road, infamously known as “The Road of Death” due to some of the most horrific accident scenes, will be completed.

The first intervention was maintenance because in some cases, there was no adequate or proper road signage.

A broken barrier section from a previous accident at the butterfly intersection along the Moloto Road. 22 June 2021, KwaMhlanga, Mpumalanga. Picture: Jacques Nelles

“So the road was not up to the national standard and we have had to deal with such issues, issues of the condition of the road, including issues of flooding and potholes. The interchanges were also top on our priority list because they have been identified as conflict points,” project manager Lawrence Chauke said.

He said they opted for roundabouts at intersections as these were safer than traffic lights, assisted in the flow of traffic and were safer for pedestrians to cross, adding that by the time they were done, there would be no four-way stop intersection on the entire road.

There are currently two completed intersections in Vlaklaagte, one in Tweefontein and a butterfly intersection in Mathyzensloop.

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KwaMhlanga and Kwaggafontein, some of the road’s busiest intersections, will also get intersections but the agency said these were taking longer as environmental impact studies had to be completed first.

The agency’s Nontobeko Mathenjwa, however, said the process to build the completed intersections was smooth because there was no environment impact assessment needed.

“There are structures and people to be moved so that takes a bit of time and you cannot just bulldoze people away,” she said.

Mathenjwa said theirs was not just to upgrade the road but also to encourage a culture of road safety, mobility and accessibility.

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She said what has been done thus far was under the first phase and that contractors had been appointed to start working on the second phase but said this would be done on staggered basis, so that the entire road was not turned into a construction site.

In the second phase of the road, more intersections would be constructed, the road widened to two lanes in both directions and concrete median barriers separating opposing traffic.

A pedestrian crossing along Moloto Road near an intersection where Sanral built a butterfly intersection to slow traffic. 22 June 2021, KwaMhlanga, Mpumalanga. Picture: Jacques Nelles

“The concrete barriers do not only stop motorists from overtaking on dangerous zones but also stop U-turns. On top of the barriers, we are going to put up a fence to stop pedestrian crossings as well as street lights for visibility,” Mathenjwa said.

There are about 51 schools in the first 20km of Mpumalanga’s stretch of the R573, which requires that great attention is given to safety in the design and construction of the road.

So in addition to walkways, sheltered bus stops and villages as well as bridges for livestock crossing, at least six pedestrian bridges will also be built as the road cuts through villages.

The agency emphasised the importance of road maintenance but the smashed guard rails on some of the intersections, as well as overgrown grass in the centre of the roundabouts, told a different story.

As much as infrastructure plays a critical role in road safety, the agency said the behaviour of road users was a bigger part of minimising accidents.

Sanral said since the intersections were upgraded, there had been positive feedback from local municipality about the reduction of accidents on those spots.

siphom@citizen.co.za