Photo by: Duane Daws
Cape Town’s N1 and N2 are ‘virtual parking lots’, according to the South African National Roads Agency.
Cape Town was found to be the most congested city in the country in the recent Tom Tom survey of traffic conditions, Sanral said in a statement.
The agency blames this on “years of under-investment in the road infrastructure” in and around the city, which has led to the increased duration of morning and afternoon-evening peak traffic lockdowns.
“This has turned the road network into virtual parking lots,” said Sanral communications manager Vusi Mona.
The effects of under-investment can be seen on the R300 freeway, the statements reads.
“It was upgraded by Sanral in 2010 to improve safety and capacity. It operates at the highest level of service to motorists, but because of the lack of upgrading of interconnecting arterials such as Old Paarl Road, Van Riebeeck Road and the Stellenbosch Arterial by the City [of Cape Town], traffic on the R300 comes to a complete standstill during peak times.”
Road users should start getting used to much more of this as the City continues to delay infrastructure projects, Mona said.
“In addition, road users on the N1 and N2 can attest to the fact that even daily road maintenance and the smallest of incidents such as bumper bashes result in significant delays and utter chaos not only on the freeways, but also on the surrounding connecting roadways,” he said.
Mona continued that the City’s expert advisers had initially advised their principals that the upgrades and improvements on the N1 and N2 were not required, and that Sanral should pay for these from its “own funds”.
Sanral gets an allocation from National Treasury via the Department of Transport and in the current financial year has received approximately R12.5-billion for its nontoll road network, which is 18 283km in length.
The 175km-long N1/N2 Winelands upgrade needs an estimated R10-billion investment, this just for the initial construction work, the agency said.
“The assertion that Sanral must use its ‘own funds’ betrays a lack of understanding by the City of how national roads are funded,” said Mona.
The City was not immediately available on Sunday for comment.