Illovo resident Ruth Muller says that parts of Oxford Road need urgent remedial work done before it deteriorates even further.
“My specific concerns are that there are holes beginning to form in the road both along the midline of the road and in places in the centre of each lane,” said Muller.
Of particular concern to Muller were the portions between 11th Avenue and Riviera Road. “They are mostly just annoying at the moment (though there are a lot of them) but as we get rain, and traffic increases, it will get much worse and Oxford Road can be a very busy road.”
Muller said that remedial work needs to be done not just to fill the holes but to ensure that there are no underlying issues. “The issue really is that, as with many of our roads, they were built with a certain lifespan and that has been exceeded so holes appear in many places, are ignored and eventually become large potholes into which cars ‘fall’ with resultant damage to the sub-surface structure of the road and even water and gas mains.”
Communications officer at the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) Mosa Makhalima said, “The JRA is aware of the maintenance problems and is attending to them as and when reported.”
Makhalima added, “The solution to avoid pothole repairs is to resurface the roads and this is done according to a priority list of our Road Resurfacing Depot.”
According to Makhalima, the JRA depots are operating at one-third of the workforce due to Covid-19, resulting in backlogs.
