It has been six months since the 12th Avenue bridge between Devonshire and Elizabeth avenues in Bryanston was closed and still no work has been done to repair it.
Following the increase in reports of potholes and cracks in the bridge by residents, the bridge was closed earlier this year on 12 March by Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) for safety reasons.
The bridge is a busy thoroughfare with many motorists making use of it as a shortcut between Rivonia and Bryanston.
With the combined high levels of traffic, the increase of rain experienced over the past year and the lack of maintenance, the bridge’s integrity had deteriorated further. The potholes have now turned into sinkholes.
Six months later and the residents living in the area remain concerned about JRA’s lack of effort in fixing the bridge. Many fear that if the bridge is not repaired soon, the rainy season will surely worsen the bridge’s already compromised integrity.
“The damage [that has] already [been] done through lack of maintenance is massive. If it is not repaired before the rainy season it will need to be rebuilt on the Rivonia side at a cost 100 times more,” said resident Eric Henderson.
Ward 115 councillor Chris Santana said he had continued to raise the issue with the relevant parties at JRA and at a City level but nothing had been done. “I have even gone as far as escalating the matter with the regional director [Liziwe Ntshinga-Makoro] and the office of the mayor [Geoff Makhubo],” added Santana.
While the agency said it was forced to down tools and operations completely during alert levels 5, 4 and 3 of the lockdown, Santana believed that the time for using the lockdown as an excuse was long over.
When asked about the delay in action, agency spokesperson Mosa Makhalima said, “JRA is awaiting additional budget allocation for the 12th Avenue bridge in Region E. The contractor has been appointed and work will commence soon.”
While the City’s budget for the agency was approved as early as July, Santana added that the funds required for the repair of the bridge should come from the City’s emergency funding.
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