Due to a lack of intervention, the intersection at the corner of Old Pretoria Main Road and Woodmead Drive has become an unofficial four-way stop over the last year.
The traffic lights at the intersection have reportedly been non-operational since September 2021, leaving residents and motorists helpless as pleas continue to go unanswered.
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According to residents in the area, the intersection has been reported to the Johannesburg Roads Agency on many occasions since September 2021, but as it turns out, the jurisdiction of the intersection has shifted.
Did you know that since April 1, 2022, the Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) stopped maintaining an estimated 231 traffic lights across the City of Johannesburg?
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This was due to the fact that the agency could not come to an agreement with the Gauteng Provincial Department of Roads and Transport which saw the JRA design, install, repair, and maintain traffic signals on behalf of the provincial department since 2017.
JRA spokesperson Mosa Makhalima confirmed that the above-mentioned intersection in Woodmead was among the list no longer under its jurisdiction.
“We’re approaching the anniversary of [the] traffic lights at Woodmead Drive and Old Pretoria Main Road being out, what are we doing to celebrate this milestone?” asked resident Ismail Akoob on Twitter.
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Akoob has reported the matter on social media more than a dozen times since September 2021.
So what is causing the backlog? Ward 32 councillor Dimakatso Moloisane said that the department has been non-responsive to queries since it took over these intersections – no feedback has been provided to date.
“The streets have not been working for months now and the department has not been responsive nor does it show any commitment to addressing this matter.”
Residents noted similar experiences with a lack of communication from the department, “We have had many robots in this area that have not worked [for] over a year. This has been logged so many times, but still [they are] not fixed,” Anusha Naidoo previously wrote to the Chronicle.
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The provincial department was contacted on three separate occasions for comment with regards to a timeline, routine maintenance plan as well as any problems it is facing at the intersection of Old Pretoria Main Road and Woodmead Drive. The Provincial Department has been asked for comment since April 11 and then multiple times since then (July 11, August 4, September 5, September 8, September 14).
No response was given at the time of publication.
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