ROAD TO RECOVERY
DRONE footage of the M4 Ruth First Highway before and after the road rehabilitation. The highway will be reopened in seven days.
IN SEVEN days the M4 Ruth First Highway between umhlanga and Sibaya will be reopened to motorists.
A downpour and a burst underground concrete stormwater pipe last year resulted in the erosion of the embankment. Water undermined the road surface causing a partial collapse.
Devru construction site manager Shaun Naidoo said they were “touching up” and had reached the “tail end” of the road rehabilitation.
Naidoo said road signage and road marking would be done by Tuesday.
One of the challenges, he said, was the installation of a 160m high-density polyethylene underground stormwater pipe, 900mm in diameter, the longest pipe installed in one length in KZN.
He said the environmentally friendly Terramesh would ensure that in a year there would be no sign of the scar the construction left on the Hawaan Forest and umhlanga Nature Reserve. Devru has spent R3 million on the rehabilitation of the forest.
Transport, Community Safety and Liaison MEC Bheki Ntuli visited the site yesterday. He said the repairs cost about R45m.
Ntuli said the M4 route was a key economic node and major artery that provides access between the Durban CBD and the northern areas of the ethekwini and ilembe district municipalities. These include La Lucia, umhlanga, La Mercy, Umdloti and Ballito.
Travellers between the King Shaka International Airport and the city use this road as it is an alternative route to the N2 between the two destinations.
“Our initial plan was to open the road to traffic by the end of April. Due to the lockdown period we had to adjust our target. The road is now ready to be opened for traffic next week,” said Ntuli.