Beach Road surface upgrade on track

BEACH Road risks losing its picturesque character as resurfacing recently began on the tarred road, which twists and turns alongside the Kowie River.

It is currently either blocked off to traffic, or passable, but sandy or muddy.

According to Ndlambe’s senior communication officer, Cecil Mbolekwa, the road will not be completed until after the Christmas holidays.

The project involves replacing the tarred surface which, as it is close to the river, is always wet and therefore subject to erosion and full of potholes.

Beach Road will be resurfaced using interlocking grey paving, which is more resistant to erosion than tar.

The walls that form the bank of the Kowie River and support the road are also subject to erosion and may have to be re-cemented from time to time, as required.

Mbolekwa said that, as is always the case when a new road is constructed, adequate drainage has to be provided. Drainage was also planned at the Duck Pond parking lot, and the puddle that appeared there was not due to lack of drainage, but to rising levels of tide water which is unavoidable, Mbolekwa said.

He also said the roads superintendent, Sipho Paphama, had ensured that the water was forced to drain off the parking lot into the Duck Pond as the parking lot is inclined at an angle.

A drainage pipe from Masonic Street also runs into the Duck Pond, together with the Gluckman Road gutter and culvert between the parking lot and the Duck Pond, Mbolekwa reported. He said that since the floods in 2012, many new roads and new drains have been constructed that are better able to cope with heavy rains.

Financed by a separate municipal infrastructure grant (MIG), Mbolekwa, said there is no reason that funding should run out before the Beach Road project was completed.