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Tuesday 18 October 2011
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FOR THE BRAVE ONES: The ama Bele Belles drag on boat team of fered a moment of silence and a pink rose, for those who have died of breast cancer, before the Dragon Boat Regatta kicked off at Zandvlei, Muizenberg, on Saturday. The team, along with the Cape of Good Hope Rotary Club, aim to raise funds to wards the treat ment and care of breast cancer patients. Octo ber is interna tionally known as Breast Can cer Awareness Month. Photo: Nasief Manie / Photo 24
Traffic blues for Far South DALEEN FOUCHÉ
R
EPAIR WORK on Boyes Drive faces disruption as the contractor working on the road is struggling with, among other things, a countrywide shortage of materials. Heavy delays and traffic congestion between Muizenberg and Kalk Bay, caused by the repair work on Boyes Drive, made last week a misery for many motorists, with some using Twitter to vent their frustration on Thursday, peppering their tweets with terms like “huge delays” and “chaos”. The road was converted to a temporary one-way system for northbound traffic for the section of road from Clairvaux Road to Old Boyes Drive on Thursday and yesterday (Monday). Repairs are expected to continue over the next two weeks, depending on the
weather and availability of materials. The work, being done from 09:00 to 16:00, began on Monday 3 October, but was postponed after two days of work due to a shortage of bitumen, a petroleum byproduct used to surface roads. Work continued on Thursday when a fresh supply of bitumen was obtained, but was once again postponed on Friday when bad weather prevented further work. Paul Booth, project manager for the Main Road upgrades and the Boyes Drive repairs, says bitumen, being a byproduct in the refinement of crude oil into petrol, is not a priority for refineries. The repair work, which comprises the resurfacing of a section of the road, is a “necessity” because the road was “breaking up”, Booth adds. The situation is aggravated by the Main Road upgrade, which is
currently in phase two, stretching between Leighton Road and the Kalk Bay Harbour entrance. Besides Boyes Drive and Main Road, the only other roads giving access to the Far South are Ou Kaapse Weg and Chapman’s Peak, which is a toll route. Tony Trimmel, chairperson for the Kalk Bay and St James Residents’ and Ratepayers’ Association, agrees the repairs to Boyes Drive are a necessity, because the road has taken a beating by heavy vehicles. He feels it is better for the contractor to fix Boyes Drive now to avoid further deterioration, but he worries about the backlog of traffic in both Boyes Drive and Main Road, “especially during peak traffic hours”. Trimmel says motorists will “just have to bear with it”, unfortunately, and adds that people will be kept informed of all develop-
ments by Chand Environmental Consultants. Still, Trimmel expresses concern about the Far South “gridlock” and its dearth of access roads. He says Far South communities keep growing, and several big developments planned for the area are set to exacerbate alreadyserious traffic problems. “There are big challenges facing Far South traffic management,” he says. In terms of the Main Road upgrade, the main challenge will come when the work moves to the area stretching from Kalk Bay Harbour to Clovelly, but all possible ways to ease the pressure are being discussed with affected parties, Trimmel says. Either way, he doesn’t think the gridlock will be solved once the Main Road repairs are finished – he says other solutions need to be considered.