No Joints Policy bears fruit
Re-cabling reduces traffic signal downtime significantly
Since the City of Johannesburg’s (CoJ) implementation of the No Joints Policy, there has been a reduction of 20 per cent in traffic signal downtime.
In a recent press release, the Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Transport, councillor Nonhlanhla Makhuba, said that the huge impact was due to the implementation of Johannesburg Road Agency’s (JRA) additional interventions.
In November 2016, JRA started with the recabling of key intersections contributing to high congestion across the CoJ, and a significant difference can already be seen. “Following the Executive Mayor’s launch of the No Joints policy, 200 priority intersections will be recabled. The roll-out involves the removal of old and damaged joints that give rise to repeated faults. Forty intersections were recabled from July to October 2017, 30 more will be tackled from November to December 2017, another 50 from January to March 2018 and the last 80 will be done from April to June 2018,” the MMC said.
She added that, as part of JRA’s proactive engagements, 427 Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) units have been installed to provide power to intersections during outages. “These units allow Eskom and City Power to address faults within 24 hours. This has reduced traffic signal outages and congestion, and improved motorist safety,” she said.
A Smart Traffic System has also been implemented, where traffic signals can be monitored remotely to ensure that faults are detected and technicians dispatched immediately to do repairs. “Since the implementation of the Smart Traffic System, 75 per cent of faults have been detected this way and proactive maintenance by JRA technicians has been carried out,” the MMC said.
Intersections that have been recabled since the No Joints Policy launch, include:
• Ontdekkers Road and Sonop Street/ Crane Avenue,
• Ontdekkers Road and Die Ou Pad,
• Crous Drive/ Wilgespruit Road and Bonnydoone Road,
• Adderley Street and Sonop Street/ Amsterdam Street,
• Elias Motsoaledi Road (Roodepoort Road) and Van Onsellen Road/ Jonas Moabi Street,
• Wilgerood Road and Topaz Avenue.
“Efforts are underway to employ additional traffic signal technicians and we are implementing the use of alternative materials to reduce copper content in cables in our fight against theft and vandalism.
We will continue to do all we can to tackle the City’s infrastructure challenges so we can create an enabling environment for strong economic growth, opportunities for all and the efficient delivery of services to our residents,” the MMC concluded.
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