‘It’s time to complete Foreshore project’
WHY were Cape Town’s unfinished Foreshore freeway never completed?
It’s a question he gets asked a lot, but Douglas Hutton, who was the general foreman and in charge of construction on the project, is still not 100percent sure.
“Everybody always asks me why we stopped. I think it was money. But there were also some problems with other buildings in the way.
“I never knew all the reasons – just that the project never got off the ground.”
There was also a complaint from a church, but after so many years, the details are a little sketchy.
Hutton, now 92, spent about three years on the project in the 1970s and says it was a pleasure to work there.
“I was greatly involved in the construction,” he recalls. “One of the other foremen in the section near Green Point was an Australian.”
Hutton would love nothing better than to see the project finished.
“They should connect it up as it was intended to be. It’s stupid to have it like that,” Hutton said yesterday.
Construction on the project came to a halt in 1977 and since then Foreshore Freeway Bridge has become a popular location for feature films and television commercials.
Some urban legends suggested a design error resulting in the two ends not linking up, but cost appears to have been the main factor and that low traffic volumes then didn’t warrant any further investment.
But these days traffic congestion has become an increasing challenge in Cape Town.
And yesterday mayor Patricia de Lille called on prospective investors and developers to come up with a solution to address the congestion in the Foreshore Freeway Precinct.
Hutton said he would be happy to talk to anyone interested in completing the Foreshore freeway and to share his expertise with them.