There have been numerous car accidents and near misses on 12th Avenue in Rivonia, most notably on the corner of 12th Avenue and Gemsbok Lane.
Cheetah Crescent and Rivonia Residents Association member, Stuart Pithey, has voiced his displeasure regarding traffic in the area. “Car accidents are common at this junction,” he said.
“People use this road to avoid the Rivonia interchange which places extra traffic load on 12th Avenue.” Pithey added that motorists sped along 12th Avenue, especially on weekend nights when coming and going from the various nightclubs in Rivonia.
Ward 104 councillor Michael Wood is aware of the traffic issues in Rivonia. “The roads in the area are becoming absolutely congested,” he said.
“One of the City’s policies at the moment is densification, and if you look at the Rivonia area where property stands are quite big, developers are putting up townhouse complexes where there used to be one or two houses. This factor will have an obvious impact on the amount of traffic in the area.”
Wood added that the labour force in Johannesburg still lived too far away from their actual places of employment; and that the City’s densification policy sought to make affordable housing available closer to the main business hubs of Johannesburg.
Esther Schmidt, operations manager for traffic engineering services at Johannesburg Roads Agency gave feedback on the possible construction of a traffic circle on 12th Avenue. “We will investigate the request for a traffic circle at the mentioned location,” she said.
“Factors taken into account in the investigation include geometric constraints, available road reserve, pedestrian movements, balanced traffic flow, volume/capacity ratio of the proposed circle etc. Traffic counts will be undertaken as soon as the private school holidays is over.”
Details: 011 298 5000; 082 853 2174.
JRA
