Plan to ease Cape Town N1 congestion

Agent_Smith

Agent_Smith

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From IOL.co.za

N1 plan to ease congestion in Cape Town

Cape Town - The Western Cape government and the Cape Town city council have unveiled two major plans to ease congestion on the city’s roads and make them safer.

This includes construction on a project, worth R487 million, which has already begun on a portion of the N1, where motorists can expect some inconvenience over the next three years as additional lanes are built and bridges are repaired.

R750m to ease Cape Town traffic

Meanwhile, the city council is looking for ways to reduce the impact of freight trucks, to minimise congestion and accidents, and to ensure the safe movement of dangerous goods.

The city council’s transport authority, Transport Cape Town, has released a draft strategy for public comment on how to deal with these issues.

The majority of freight in and out of Cape Town is transported along the N1, N2 and N7.

Up to 20 percent of the vehicles on the N1 are heavy vehicles.

“The N1 is undoubtedly one of the more important roads, particularly in this region, and improving travel times and easing congestion on this road remains an imperative,” said Western Cape Transport MEC Donald Grant.

Construction on the N1 will be carried out over a 9km stretch from Plattekloof Road to just beyond the Old Oak interchange until February 2019.

Approximately 120 000 vehicles travel on this stretch every day.

Mayoral committee member for transport Brett Herron said an assessment of freight transport on the city’s roads found that the overloading of trucks had a significant impact on the road network, leading to roads deteriorating prematurely.

Freight transport was also exacerbating congestion on the city’s roads, he said.

“The draft strategy proposes certain interventions to reduce the impact of road-based freight on our urban environment.

“Two things are very clear: rail must be part of the plan and secondly, we will have to implement innovative solutions to reduce the overall cost of doing business in Cape Town.”

Herron said the strategy recognised the role the freight transport plays in the economy, but that the city council wanted to ensure that this mode of transport was safe and efficient, and that the impact on other road users was reduced.

'BUSINESS NEEDS FREE FLOW'

The president of the Cape Chamber of Commerce, Janine Myburgh, said while the chamber was not in favour of restricting the movement of heavy vehicles to off-peak hours only, there was a need to improve the flow of traffic on the city’s major roads.

A trip from the northern suburbs to the city centre that used to take only 45 minutes a few years ago, now took 90 minutes in peak traffic times.

“It eats into your working time. Business needs free flow to keep the economy running,” Myburgh said.

Between 2009 and 2013, up to 177 accidents involved freight vehicles.

The TCT said it wanted to reduce the number of accidents through a review of the existing road infrastructure and the location of truck stops and staging areas.

As part of plans to make the N1 safer, additional lanes will be built and the existing concrete median barrier will be extended to prevent head-on collisions.

Other improvements would include demolishing the Old Oak West Bridge and building a new one.

Other bridges on the freeway would also be repaired.

Myburgh said she did not believe improving capacity on the N1 would discourage people from using public transport.

“People who use public transport will still use it. But we need extra lanes, it’s almost become a hazard,” she said.

While motorists will have to contend with slower moving traffic in this area, Grant said every effort had been made to minimise the impact of construction.

Construction work has been restricted to outside the peak travel times of between 6am and 9am inbound, and 3pm and 7pm outbound.

“All efforts will be made to ensure minimal disruption to traffic during the construction phase of the project.

“However motorists must expect reduced lane widths and general speed limits in areas where works are taking place,” Grant said.

Construction would also not be carried out simultaneously on both sides of the carriageway, roadway, ramp nor both terminals of the same interchange.

The draft strategy on freight vehicles is available on the city council’s website, libraries and subcouncil offices until March 23.
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I'm sure if they fixed the trains most of the congestion would dissappear.
 
I'm no expert on traffic but how will adding more lanes ease congestion (sounds like a stupid question, I know). The biggest issues I can see are the bottlenecks coming into town. You can make a highway 10 lanes wide, but when the get into town, they're limited by space to two or three. One major bottleneck they need to sort out is the R27 on-ramp in Paarden Eiland onto the N1 (inbound). One lane having to deal with thousands of vehicles in the morning is simply ridiculous.
 
Agent_Smith said:
I'm no expert on traffic but how will adding more lanes ease congestion (sounds like a stupid question, I know). The biggest issues I can see are the bottlenecks coming into town. You can make a highway 10 lanes wide, but when the get into town, they're limited by space to two or three. One major bottleneck they need to sort out is the R27 on-ramp in Paarden Eiland onto the N1 (inbound). One lane having to deal with thousands of vehicles in the morning is simply ridiculous.
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+ by adding capacity you increase the demand on the system as well so just adding lanes isn't the best way to combat this problem.
 
hawker said:
Not only that, but people need reliable public transport once they get off the train.
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granted, but people can take their cars to the station if they live far from the trains, I think trains are the biggest issue when it comes to congestion on the road
 
Put up a cameras at various points to fine people texting, and you will be amazed at how much better the congestion will become.
 
HBee said:
Put up a cameras at various points to fine people texting, and you will be amazed at how much better the congestion will become.
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Rubber-neckers too. Nothing grates me more than being stuck in traffic, only to discover it's caused by a small fender bender on the side of the road but everyone has slowed down to gawk at the possibility of seeing some blood. :mad:
 
saturnz said:
I'm sure if they fixed the trains most of the congestion would dissappear.
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and wouldn't it be cheaper? make it safer and reliable. the train service levels have become really pathetic. fix public transport and roll it out to everybody.
 
akescpt said:
and wouldn't it be cheaper? make it safer and reliable. the train service levels have become really pathetic. fix public transport and roll it out to everybody.
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exactly, when I was living in the suburbs, a monthly return ticket was about R200, the equivalent petrol bill would have been closer to R2000, and thats excluding parking.

its a real shame the trains don't work reliably, I actually moved to the city because the trains were failing and I refuse to sit in traffic.
 
Cpt needs a bullet train.. And maybe a rail system in which the trucks can park on?
 
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