Louwsburg road of grave concern to locals

Coenie Swanepoel Jnr is at his wits’ end with the Louwsburg/Vryheid road he travels on daily. A road that is supposed to take little over an hour adds another 15 to 30 minutes to his trip because of all the potholes. He says that approximately 18 kilometres of the road is absolutely impossible to drive on. He says this is only from the Louwsburg turn-off and adds that when one travels further towards Pongola, the road seems to be in the same dangerous condition. “I drive this road daily and every day I find vehicles on this road that have broken a chassis or have a flat tyre. There were accidents on this road where people were seriously injured. Head-on collisions happen on a regular basis. The potholes on this road put many people’s lives in danger. It is not a luxury to get this road fixed; it is a necessity. In the misty conditions, together with the potholes, this road is a death-trap. It is of grave concern to all of us to get this road fixed.”

Swanepoel furthermore says that he speaks and directs his complaints to the Department of Transport in Vryheid monthly. “Until a year ago, we worked well together. Whenever I complained, the department tried to fix the potholes. One could see they tried to maintain the road. Sadly, the last six months to a year, they haven’t done much to fix or repair the potholes. I have used this road for the past 25 years and this is the worst it has ever been.”

Swanepoel also says he saw workers for about two weeks during December working on the road, but he couldn’t really identify whether they were actually fixing the potholes. Upon closer investigation, he enquired at the department regarding the issue and they confirmed that the workers were in the area but were awaiting materials hence they couldn’t fix any potholes.
Swanepoel has complained numerous times to the Department of Transport in Vryheid, since this road is the responsibility of AbaQulusi Local Municipality. Because of his concern for people’s lives, he desperately turned to the Vryheid Herald as well.

There was ‘movement’ in June/July on the road, suggesting that the whole road may possibly be completely redone, but when Swanepoel enquired again in August, no one could give him answers.
The Vryheid Herald, in turn, has contacted a reliable independent source to assist with the compiling of a report and a more positive outcome to the fixing of the Louwsburg/Vryheid road. Feedback regarding this should be received in a couple of weeks.

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The news provided to you in this link comes to you from the editorial staff of the Vryheid Herald, a sold newspaper distributed in the Vryheid area.