The Sandton Central Management District (SCMD), in conjunction with Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) and Traffic Freeflow, continue to work towards significant improvement to traffic signals and traffic flow in Africa’s financial hub.
According to the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), on average roughly 50 of Johannesburg’s 2,135 intersections experience signal downtime each day. Ageing signal infrastructure and lack of a secure electricity supply account for roughly 25 per cent of faults reported daily.
Elaine Jack, City Improvement District manager for Sandton Central said, “We have invested in measures to ensure that key traffic signals in the district are always on. Also, we have partnered with the JRA on a number of key initiatives, including a traffic signal forum where we actively engage with both the JRA and Eskom technicians in order to reduce the time traffic signals are down.”
Recently, the roads agency engineers re-timed several intersections to start peak-hour flow timings half-an-hour earlier in the morning, running from 6am to 9am. Their peak afternoon plans now run longer too, from 3.30pm to 8pm.
The intersections are:
- Rivonia and 5th
- Sandton Drive and Alice
- Rivonia and Pybus
- Rivonia and Katherine
- Sandton and Grayston
- Rivonia and Fredman
- Rivonia and Maude/Linden
- Rivonia and Pretoria/Daisy
- Rivonia and West.
“Non-working traffic signals in a business district like Sandton Central can be detrimental in terms of lost time and economic productivity and, as a leading financial district, Sandton Central prioritises these goals,” said Jack.
Looking ahead, Sandton Central would like to see all traffic signals re-synchronised but the imminent arrival of Rea Vaya Bust Rapid Transit System in Sandton Central will require the timings to be changed again which, according to the roads agency could prove a costly exercise.
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Jack concluded, “SCMD looks forward to continuing with the successful partnership we have built with the City, JRA, JMPD and Traffic Freeflow as we forge ahead to ensure a better, smarter, smoother flowing and more environmentally-friendly city, which is a great place to live, work and visit.”
