How do I enter ‘Road Resurfacing Lottery’?

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)