Motorists who use the highway regularly can prepare themselves for high congestion levels if they do not opt to use alternative routes or public transport.
This announcement was made by the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) at a media briefing at which MMC for Transport, Christine Walters spoke, along with Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar of Metro police and acting JRA managing director, Mpho Kau.
Walters explained that the freeway revitalisation project formed part of Johannesburg’s investment of more than R100 billion in strategic infrastructure over a 10-year period.
“A world-class city must be served by world-class infrastructure,” said Walters.
“The upgrades we are doing now will benefit [road users] for decades to come and ensure the safe movement of people, goods and services.”
Walters further appealed to M1 users for co-operation and for them to ‘behave’ by being considerate to all law-abiding motorists and obey all laws themselves.
Kau said the R210 million combined cost of the rehabilitation projects on these bridges would be concluded by May next year.
“We are happy to announce that much progress has been made on both the Oxford and Federation bridges project which we have mainly being working on at the Killarney bend during the first phase, thus, we are confident we can now continue with Phase 2,” Kau continued.
On behalf of Metro police, Minnaar warned motorists that congestion would increase and cautioned them to be patient. “We suggest that motorists… stagger their travelling times and either start travelling and leaving earlier, or leave later and return later in the evenings,” he said. Minnaar also advised motorists on other routes that could be taken.
<ct:Bold>These suggestions are:
<ct:>q The N1 western bypass is a good choice for those who work in the Sandton, Midrand and Rosebank areas by using the William Nicol Road off- and on-ramps.
q Using N2/Joe Slovo Drive to get onto the N1 by going through Houghton and getting onto the N1 to avoid going through Parktown.
Minnaar added that there were concerns about access for emergency vehicles but a contingency plan had been put in place regarding this. “We will be working with the relevant construction company and have tow trucks on standby at these sites on a 24-hour basis.”
Minnaar said that if anything such as accidents and the like happened, these tow trucks could remove the obstructions immediately to clear the area and improve traffic flow.
Details: www.jra.org.za
