Residential dirt road in Honeydew almost inaccessible despite two-decade old promise of tarred surface

The earth moves eternal but is shaped and moulded by those who value it.

Highlighting the pitfalls of procrastinated progress, one street serves as a microcosm for the relationship between a municipality and the residents they serve. Since November, residents of Cypress Road have been battling the ever eroding sand that makes up the dirt road which runs the length of their suburb. Recent rains have turned access points for the suburb into an obstacle course forcing residents to get creative.

Unable to safely navigate in and out of their homes, resident Tony Bosman and a handful of neighbours took it upon themselves to carve out something resembling a road. Using ingenuity, a 4×4, half a tank of petrol and a large tractor tyre with water drums added to increase weight, Tony dragged the tyre up and down 800 meters of the the northern most section of the road for four hours.

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Despite the rudimentary work done on January 6, much of the low lying sections of the road are still barely passable. The four kilometre stretch of road services just over 50 plots, almost 30 sectional title units and has limited access points giving residents few alternatives. Over the years, some residents have added sections of tar and bricks outside their properties but the inconsistent patchwork has had counterproductive results.

Tony and his family moved into Cypress Road in the early 2000’s and claims the dirt road was due for tarring in 2005 but funds allocated for the project were diverted to projects that required more political urgency. Frustratingly for the residents, their property rates were increased around 2010 after a tariff reclassification and despite falling into this new bracket which mandates a tarred road and streetlights, the dust and pitch darkness still persists for more than 10 years now.

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David Babbin has lived in Cypress Road since 1986 and relays how in those years a neighbour would use a tractor and a piece of railway line to smooth the dirt road once a month. Channels used to exist to run water through properties but grading has lowed the road level almost half a meter below the original verge height making it impossible for water to drain into the purpose cut pathways.

The road is still regularly graded by Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) but years of heavy duty scraping has taken the top layers away and shifted the dirt to the sides of the road, creating a trough with limited drainage. The sand is then washed to the lowest parts of the road which includes a storm water drain that feeds into David’s property. The result is what David mockingly calls ‘the most expensive beach in Johannesburg’ in the corner of his property. Every few months, at his own cost, he needs to dig up the sand bank to transfer back to the road.

The repeated grading has also exposed the main water lines that crisscross the road as well as storm water drains that were once deeper under the road surface. Most of the concrete storm water drains have had the tops scraped off and are filled with sand. Needing to regularly adjust the height of their driveways, the more impatient home owners have chopped the sand-filled concrete drains out of the way completely.

JRA was asked for clarification on the immediate plans for the road via emails sent on January 6 and 9, but no response has yet been forthcoming. Residents claim the most recent hint of a tarring project would come with a R1 million per kilometre price tag but it has been roughly five years since that quote. Residents still dream of a tarred road with street lights but the very least are asking for a convex road surface with adequate drainage that would prevent them being stranded on their own personal island.