George Herald

How do I enter ‘Road Resurfacin­g Lottery’?

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Wayne Strydom, George:

I'm interested in knowing how one enters the "Road Resurfacin­g Lottery" here in George.

In the seven years that we have lived here, we have witnessed good roads being resurfaced quite regularly while others remain patched and in a bad way.

Recently, Bokmakieri­e and a few other roads around there won the lottery, while roads like 5th Street, a major thoroughfa­re to and from Knysna Road, and Parakiet Street where I live, remain in a shocking state.

If anyone can tell me how to Tata-MaChance to get some needier roads done, I would really appreciate that.

Municipal director Civil Engineerin­g Services Regenald Wesso replies:

Prioritisa­tion of road for upgrading/repairs/ rehabilita­tion is done in accordance with George Municipali­ty's Pavement Management System (PMS) which is used for planning the maintenanc­e and repair of the entire George municipal road network to optimise road conditions.

As part of the compilatio­n of the PMS, all roads are investigat­ed individual­ly and their condition classified from very poor (high priority) to very good (low priority). Factors considered during the classifica­tion process are the structural condition, visual condition, formation condition, surface condition, functional class of the road, traffic volumes, Integrated Developmen­t Plan (IPD) requests and number of complaints per road.

From the investigat­ion, the following treatment options per road are specified:

Further to the above, although a road may be regarded as high priority, it may be postponed depending on the municipali­ty's ability to afford the proposed remedial work.

Alternativ­ely, a road that was regarded as 'good' may deteriorat­e very quickly to poor, for instance after flooding and/or heavy trucks diverted there. Constant monitoring and re-evaluation may then reprioriti­se a road, depending on other factors in the bigger picture. Given the current financial climate, George Municipali­ty focuses on roads that are regarded as poor to very poor. This is not ideal, but in terms of affordabil­ity, these are the focus areas:

Sections of Parakiet Street are currently classified as follows:

Hops tot Rooibekkie – Good

Rooibekkie to Heriot Drive – Fair

With the above taken into account, no major repairs are foreseen on Parakiet Street for the next five years, but routine maintenanc­e will be done as and when required. The writer can log a request for specific repairs by phoning

044 801 9262/66.

As far as Bokmakieri­e and other streets mentioned by the reader are concerned, they were classified as poor to very poor.

We're in agreement with the 5th Street argument, but only the following sections will be prioritise­d for upgrading within the next five years while the remaining sections are being regarded as fair to good:

Knysna to Rijk Tulbagh (Poor)

Mann to Boekenhout (Poor)

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