NINE months on and the road, Millennium Boulevard, between Zenith Drive and Centenary Boulevard remains closed. On 13 February the road was closed by the eThekwini Transport Authority (ETA) following a spate of accidents in the area. What’s more dragsters were using the stretch of road that lies opposite a children’s playground to race their cars. The road is also situated in a high pedestrian area with a number of call centres nearby.
Also read: Councillor explains uMhlanga road closure
Now a local resident, Lesley Wyatt is questioning why the road remains closed after so many months of closure. Wyatt said: ” I have emailed eThekwini Roads Provision Department but have received no response. It’s such a busy area and this closure causes chaos, because it affects people trying to get in and out of Gateway,” she said.
Umhlanga ward councillor Heinz De Boer however said the monitoring carried out by the city has yielded positive results.
Also read: Rampant drag racing in uMhlanga
“I can confirm that I have looked at the statistics and that accidents have decreased significantly since the closure of the road earlier this year,” he said. He added that the plan was to keep the road closed despite the decrease in speeding in the area. In 2016 metal speed bumps, deemed illegal by the eThekwini Municipality, were removed since they did not conform to the municipality’s specifications. He said with the removal of the metal speed humps, the unlawful and dangerous road used by some motorists caused the situation to spiral out of control.
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“I suggested to put table top speed humps as it can become a pedestrian access as well as slow motorists down. At this point the City has no intention of opening the road,” said de Boer. However Wyatt fears that with the festive season approaching the closed road will cause mayhem in and around surrounding areas.
