Sanral: Alternative route to Marine Drive is accessible

The South African National Roads Agency SOC Ltd (Sanral) has said that queries on the traffic impact as a result of road rehabilitation on Marine Drive should be directed to the KZN Department of Transport (DoT)

Motorists who regularly use Marine Drive have urged that toll fees be reduced or dropped over the duration of the roadworks.

“In terms of stopping tolling, that was a once-off intervention which was gazetted at the oThongathi and uMvoti Plazas by the Minister of Transport, in response to the impact of the April 2022 floods that cut off all alternatives to the N2 between KwaDukuza and oThongathi. The current situation of the road maintenance being undertaken is not comparable due to the nature of the activity and the presence of other alternative routes such as Izotsha Road,” said Sanral’s Eastern Region project manager, Samantha Dladla.

Since the inception of the project attempts to get comment from DoT has failed. Ray Nkonyeni Municipality also tried to bring the matter to the DoT’s attention, however, has not yet received a response.

A reader also queried why Sanral does not have a dedicated lane for tag users and that it is unfair to wait in long cash queues.

“Sanral is in the process of developing standardised signage for payment options at toll plaza lanes to ensure consistency across all routes. At Oribi Plaza, this new signage will be implemented by the new operator scheduled to commence their contract shortly. At the moment all lanes accept e-tags,” said Dladla.

Sanral is also considering when it would be appropriate to introduce a dedicated tag lane (shesha lane), as this is informed by traffic characteristics and consideration of the timing of upgrades to the plaza infrastructure.
DoT was contacted again for comment but none was received at the time of going to press.

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