RESIDENTS and emergency services face mounting challenges as heavy truck congestion on residential roads on The Bluff leads to significant delays in response times. This is according to Dhevan Govindasamy, PT Alarms’ spokesperson.
Highlighting safety risks posed by the congestion, Govindasamy’s concerns underscore a pressing need for local authorities to address this critical issue promptly.
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He said the congestion caused by heavy trucks has posed safety risks for residents. The Bluff residents are fed up with the endless convoys of trucks rumbling through to get to Durban Harbour, resulting in traffic jams, cracked roads which cause safety hazards.
Some residents claim that the trailer trucks traveling at night are prone to causing accidents because their headlights are aimed at oncoming traffic.
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“Sometimes it is impossible to respond to clients and this has a negative impact on our service performance. I have lost clients due to this problem. There should be more holding areas where trucks can wait or alternatively allocate days and times to enter the area,” said Govindasamy.
Ward 66 councillor, Zoë Solomon, said the matter has been escalated. “It is virtually impossible to hold back such chaos with already limited resources. We saw some positive response asking for monitoring (last week). We have to be vigilant while the issue cannot be resolved with the current resources.
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“The issue is being actively driven in council through the Security and Emergency Services committee. We are monitoring and reporting resulting infrastructure problems that are arising,” she said.
Sanral’s Eastern Region Project manager, Jason Lowe, said the inner city roads fall under municipal jurisdiction. Lowe said Sanral currently has no involvement in the planning of preparing roads for truck staging areas as part of the ongoing efforts to alleviate harbour congestion.
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“Sanral assists eThekwini (who are currently managing this area and the associated roads) when required by the municipality,” said Lowe.
Authorities acknowledged the problem and are actively seeking solutions to alleviate the congestion.
Spokesperson for Durban metro police, Colonel Victor Zungu, appealed to the residents to report the trucks that are using residential roads.
“Metro police are attending to these complaints and we have seen some congested roads. However, we encouraged residents to alert our officers should they come across trucks traveling on residential roads,” he said.
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