Sandton in drive to curb traffic jams

THE SANDTON Central Management District (SCMD) said it was continuing to work towards improvement to traffic signals and traffic flow to reduce traffic jams.

Numbeo’s 2016 Traffic Index revealed that South Africa was the fifth most traffic-congested country in the world, with Joburg leading the pack as the most congested city in the country. Numbeo is a crowdsourced global database of reported consumer prices, perceived crime rates and quality of healthcare.

The SCMD said it was working in conjunction with the Joburg metro police department (JMPD) and Traffic Freeflow to improve traffic signals in the precinct.

According to the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), on average, roughly 50 of Joburg’s 2 135 intersections experience signal downtime each day because of ageing signal infrastructure and lack of secure electricity supply.

As a result, Sandton Central has sponsored six uninterrupted power supply units for traffic signals at key intersections in its precinct to proactively address the electricity supply to traffic signals.

Recently, JRA engineers re-timed several intersections to start peak-hour flow timings half an hour earlier in the morning, running from 6am to 9am. Their peak afternoon plans now run longer too, from 3.30pm to 8pm. City improvement district manager for Sandton Central Elaine Jack said they had invested in measures to ensure key traffic signals were always on.

“We have partnered with the JRA on a number of key initiatives, including a traffic signal forum where we actively engage with both the JRA and Eskom technicians in order to reduce the time traffic signals are down,” Jack said. – ANA