Kilburn Street to be closed until further notice
Johannesburg Roads Agency to reevaluate repair project after fresh crack tears through width of road.
Residents of Roodepoort awoke to an altered landscape on Friday morning.
Low-lying areas turned into canals, dams overflowing and the washing away of streets greeted an already strained public on December 9.
Also read:Â https://www.citizen.co.za/roodepoort-record/2022/12/09/traffic-advisory-areas-affected-by-flooding/
The torrent of water further complicated matters on one road in particular, just weeks before construction on the Kilburn Street bridge began.
A day after MMC for Transport, Funzi Ngobeni, was at the bridge conducting a final oversight visit with those appointed to carry out the repairs, the heavy overnight downpours helped to tear a treacherous crease across the width of the road.
The result will be the closing of Kilburn Street between the Kliprand Road and the Kilburn Shopping Centre for the foreseeable future. This closure will only affect the road; businesses in the area will operate as normal.
Acting Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) CEO Louis Nel was on site and noted how numerous bridges across Johannesburg have sustained damage following Friday morning’s rainfall.
The Kilbrun Street bridge has been a bone of contention for Ward 84 role players and the showers were the straw that broke the proverbial infrastructural back.
Nel stated that the now extensive damage will force a reevaluation of the planned repairs.
The project is now far greater in scope and requires the section to be rebuilt from the ground up.
For now, a traffic diversion plan to secure the area will be implemented as soon as possible and will be a permanent fixture until repairs are complete.
Nel could not give any concrete timelines as to when the wheels would begin to turn but assured that information will be relayed once forthcoming.
