JRA's big plans for Joburg's roads crisis

When torrential rains hit Joburg on December 9, the city’s road infrastructure — mostly old and damaged — started crumbling. Roads and bridges were washed away and the stormwater system was overwhelmed.

Now authorities are engaging high gear to address the roads crisis. A preliminary flood impact study — likely to be finalised in mid-January — indicates urgent reconstruction work after the recent damage is likely to cost about R150m.

“We cannot say yet. It’s changing all the time. We were on R83m and then yesterday some more bridges collapsed and now we are at R12m [more] and we are still looking at more rains and more damage,” said the Joburg Roads Agency’s (JRA) acting CEO Louis Nel on Thursday.

JRA officials addressed the media on plans to address the recent flooding crisis and the strategies to deal with it.

“We’ve been encountering some vigorous and unfriendly weather patterns that are likely to persist. We’ve seen walls collapsing, shacks washed away, tar lifting, pavements flooded, debris across roads and bridges torn down. Cars have been stuck and people were trapped on roofs,” Nel said, painting a picture of the devastation in the greater Joburg and Soweto areas.

He said a joint operations committee incorporating disaster management, the JMPD, emergency services and the JRA had been set up to deal with the situation.

“We are urging all road users to be extra cautious. Listen to traffic reports and don’t try to cross flooded areas. And where you cannot see the road surface, do not trust that the road is still there and safe to cross.”

JRA operations manager in charge of traffic engineering, Esther Schmidt, said much of the road damage was in the west and south of Joburg where there are now ongoing traffic disruptions and necessary diversions.

“We have done traffic plans to secure sites and redirect motorists along alternative routes. We have put up temporary signs and are asking that people not remove them and don’t try to circumvent or bypass barricades we have set up. We ask that people respect the signage and adjust their driving accordingly,” said Schmidt.

“Don’t cross flowing water because the road could be washed away. Drive for the conditions, allow extra space between vehicles, keep your lights on and travel slower.”

She said the destruction of Hendrik Potgieter Road in Roodepoort meant a lengthy diversion for traffic.

“We ask that people don’t try to take a short cut through residential areas where the roads are not designed for heavy traffic and big trucks. We have already seen one big truck get caught on a small traffic circle in Sterretjie Street and it took us four hours to get it out.”

Schmidt said another challenge for the JRA was increased traffic congestion in December — anticipated to be about 17% higher than last year when the county was still emerging from lockdown. She said there were 2,500 road crashes in December last year, rising to 3,000 in January — with about 20 each month involving fatalities. The main causes were speeding and jaywalking; the most common type being head-rear crashes caused by the driver falling asleep or speeding, while increased low speed crashes were attributed to robot faults and load-shedding.

Muzi Nkonyane, the JRA’s head of infrastructure, said budget allocations were not in line with the work needed.

“We’re seeing collapsed culverts, eroded embankments, washed away roads, water ingress into residences, recurring flooding, traffic diversions from low-level bridges and then the necessary wait for water to subside for safety reasons before work can be done,” he said.

“The stormwater system is insufficient for heavy floods, so we have earmarked strategic master plans and interventions to address the main problems.

“What we are seeing is not a normal occurrence and therefore it needs a doubling and tripling of our resources and efforts. We don’t have enough machinery but we are trying to hit the hotspots with proactive maintenance.”

Joburg Transport MMC Funzi Ngobeni said the main difficulty was the budget. The city's finances were in a poor state, compounded by “instability within the council” — a reference to recent political upheavals and squabbles over leadership.

“We desperately need to maintain and rebuild what we have. I remember back in 2017, only 6% of our bridges were in very good condition. There are 905 bridges in Joburg, so that means that about 800 of them are in poor or very poor condition and we are driving over or under them at our own risk,” Ngobeni said.

“Less than 30% of our roads are in good condition. But we have these projects on the way to improve the safety and mobility of our residents. It’s just going to take time.”

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