Joburg’s roads set for tar and tech upgrades

GONE are the days of repeatedly patching up potholes, says Joburg mayor Parks Tau.

The City of Johannesburg has allocated R1.2-billion to its roads agency to build new roads instead of constantly doing patching. “You can’t keep stitching old pants all the time,” said Tau this week.

Johannesburg commuters have for years suffered the many potholes that open up during the rainy season.

The city’s roads agency has struggled to cope with the high number of repairs to ageing road infrastructure.

Last month, the Johannesburg Roads Agency launched Find & Fix, a mobile application that is expected to lead to a quicker response to reports of potholes and faulty traffic lights.

In the latest budget, the city allocated more than R1-billion for infrastructure upgrades in addition to the agency’s R814million operating budget.

“The agenda, if you look at the JRA’s budget, which has moved from slightly less than R400-million into the billions . . . a lot of it will go towards recapitalisation of ageing infrastructure,” said Tau.

Creating a commuter cycling community

After years of lobbying and in an attempt to reduce the 3.6 million cars on Gauteng’s roads every day, the city has finally begun the implementation of cycling lanes across the city, including areas such as Orange Farm, Alexandra, Diepsloot and Sandton.

The latest budget has made provision for four dedicated cycling lanes, the first of which is due for completion at the end of June.

This initial route, stretching 5.5km in Orlando in Soweto, will take in a number of schools and public spaces, including the Orlando Stadium, and will also see the addition of sidewalks in the area.

Work has also started on the universities of Johannesburg-Witwatersr and cycle route, which stretches from the UJ campus in Kingsway in Auck- land Park to Ellis Park Stadium in the Johannesburg CBD.

The route will pass Wits University, Park Station and UJ’s Doornfontein Campus.

July will see the start of the 20km Ivory Park cycling route and the project is set for completion in June 2015.

A further 20km route still in the design phase will stretch from Orange Farm towards the city. Construction is mooted for 2015.

For more information on these routes see juca.org.za.

Free internet

The City of Johannesburg is going smart with the roll-out of free internet in the city. With 900km of fibre-optic cables already laid throughout the city — from Orange Farm in the south to Diepsloot in the north — the city is setting up 1 000 Wi-Fi hot spots that will enable travellers along these routes to stay connected.

Residents of Johannesburg will be allowed 300MB per device with a line speed of 10 megabits per second.

The bus rapid transit routes from Soweto to the Johannesburg CBD will receive priority in this regard.

Other priority areas will include public libraries and parks.

The roll-out will be completed by 2016.