Steady flow of traffic southwards
KZN ready for holidaymakers
THE provincial government expects more than 600 000 domestic visitors to pour R1.2 billion into KZN’s economy.
And feeding this forecast by Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs MEC Sihle Zikalala, which was part of his welcome message to tourists, were 2 165 cars passing the Mooi River toll plaza on the N3 bound for Durban between 2pm and 3pm yesterday, according to the N3TC Control Room.
It dropped to 1 859 cars for the next hour and as the light faded it was down to 1 204.
Two crashes and an oil spill on Van Reneen’s Pass in the morning led to a huge back-up of traffic at the Free StateKwaZulu-Natal border. Three people were killed. Road Traffic Inspectorate spokesperson Zihle Mngomezulu put the noon count at Mooi River at 1 331.
Closer to Durban, around 3 000 cars passed through Mariannhill toll plaza in both directions between 3pm and 4pm.
KwaZulu-Natal Medical Emergency Services spokesperson Robert McKenzie said paramedics were at “multiple crash scenes”.
In the late afternoon, a minibus overturned on the M41 near uMhlanga closing the road to traffic.
“Several commuters were injured on the scene,” said Kyle van Reenen of Marshall Security.
The MEC said 138 000 international visitors were expected to spend an average of R773 a day to add another R1.06 billion to provincial coffers.
“Certainly, this would be an improvement from the 2016 performance where the province recorded about R1.2 billion from domestic tourists,” said Zikalala.
In spite of grey skies over Durban yesterday evening, holidaymakers were “in party mode” along the beachfront, according to metro police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Parboo Sewpersad.
He described the air above Blue Lagoon and Suncoast beach as being “full of smoke from braai fires”.
“People are enjoying themselves and that’s what we want to see. However, they must act responsibly.”
Sewpersad said police supervisors on the ground would decide where and when to close roads, making “soft closures” using cones when traffic became overwhelming, but that they would be ready to apply “hard closures” using concrete blocks if necessary.
“Once closures are in place, the park and ride system will operate from the old Natal Command site and from the Durban Drive-In.”
Sewpersad also said the metro police would conduct roadblocks as well as stop and searches, keeping an eye open particularly for alcohol abuse.