Bellairs Drive - what's happening?

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murraybiscuit

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Anybody else living in Bellairs Drive, JHB?

It looks like things may be starting up again. The most recent info I can find on the matter comes from here on 13th August, although I think it may actually be significantly older than that:

Yesterday we had a co-ordination meeting with the engineers, JRA and the contractors.
Realeka was not at this meeting as they had been served with a notice to vacate the site on Tuesday.
It became clear that the procurement department of JRA has taken note of my recommendations and has invited 4 contractors to furnish them with rates to complete Bellairs Drive.
This means we can have a new contractor on site within 3-6 weeks rather than 3-6 months, as would be the case if it went out to tender.
The fact that the rains are around the corner was addressed at length by the chief engineers and a decision was made to do intermediate work in order to protect the residents and the work already done.
Due to safety worries barriers are going to be installed where big level differences occur.
The section of road just past the Checkers center which is failing rapidly will be taken up and be a gravel road for the present time.
Leveling and priming will also go ahead in cerain sections.
This will safe the existing work and will in the end not constitute an additional cost.
The pressure put on certain small roads in the area has made it necessary to put extra work and expense into them.
Reier road for example is going to be dampened regularly in order to keep down dust.
At this point I would like to appeal to people not to use this road as an escape route as it is totally unfair to the residents there to have to suffer this extraordinary pressure and inconvenience.
The dust created by rather inconsiderate drivers also creates a very real health-hazard.
In closing I would like to re-asure all residents that we are trying to resolve these issues as fast as possible and with the least inconvenience to all.
More updates will follow as they come to hand.
Click to expand...

Anybody else got anything helpful to add? I'm going bonkers here.
 
The problem was the massive influx of townhouses that just popped up, Bellairs drive was never designed to take that load of traffic. When we moved to the Northriding area 22 years ago Bellairs drive was pretty much exactly as it is now, all that was along there was massive plots. Developers need to take into consideration traffic yield when building 30 or 40 townhouses extra there too.
 
blunomore said:
Where is that ? What the problem with the road ?
Click to expand...

the tar has been peeling off and it's been flooding for years due to poor drainage and construction.
jra awarded a tender to fix it for good, and the contractor started digging the whole thing up in april this year
then the main contractor went bust in may and didn't pay subcontractors or any of their workers.
and they've been in court with the jra since.

basically half the road has been torn up and it's 1 way traffic for about 4km.
it's been like that for 6 months and now the rain is coming.
we're not talking about a farm road here, we're talking about one of the most densely populated suburbs in the country.
 
Lupus said:
The problem was the massive influx of townhouses that just popped up, Bellairs drive was never designed to take that load of traffic. When we moved to the Northriding area 22 years ago Bellairs drive was pretty much exactly as it is now, all that was along there was massive plots. Developers need to take into consideration traffic yield when building 30 or 40 townhouses extra there too.
Click to expand...

part of the development and zoning application to the municipality includes a municipal reticulation fee.
this should cover the municipal infrastructure necessary to accommodate the new influx of people (sewerage, roads, water, electricity etc).
apparently the government took this money a few years back and used it for infrastructure in poorer communities.
they then announced that they would not be able to provide services to all the developments which had already been approved and paid for.
this led to certain developers about 6 years back having to mothball some of their projects. this was certainly the case when they were building our complex (our builder had to stop work on another project).
buildings only go up with the consent of council and town planners.
 
Last edited:
murraybiscuit said:
part of the development and zoning levy to the municipality includes a municipal reticulation fee.
this should cover the municipal infrastructure necessary to accommodate the new influx of people (sewerage, roads, water, electricity etc).
apparently the government took this money a few years back and used it for infrastructure in poorer communities.
they then announced that they would not be able to provide services to all the developments which had already been approved and paid for.
this led to certain developers about 6 years back having to mothball some of their projects. this was certainly the case when they were building our complex.
Click to expand...

I always assumed it was bad planning and mismanagement though I didn't know the real story. Either way its ridiculous to blame the developers. It's governments job to regulate and plan for roads and services.
 
This whole area has been neglected for so many years. Blandford Rd has just been sorted out and the drainage has been improved. The culvert to replace the low water bridge in Hyperion drive is almost done so that will help. It all just seems so unco-ordinated with Bellairs now falling apart.
 
That road was awful when we had all that rain earlier this year... It was scary driving over puddles... not sure if they are portals to other dimensions, or just plain old water.
 
I hit a massive pothole in Bellairs at the beginning of the year, cost me about R2000 to fix the damage to my wheel, JRA just shrugged me off, apparently they believe people are trying to scam them nowadays grrr... Also I believe some of those developments on Bellairs are actually illegal, the big shopping centre at the corner of Malibongwe and Bellairs is one of the them, many articles about it in the Randburg Sun
 
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