SANRAL’s Eastern Cape road upgrades make for a driving dream this holiday season

As people prepare to journey through the Eastern Cape to their favourite holiday destinations, they can be secure in the knowledge that the roads taking them there not only meet world-class safety standards but are also a pleasure to drive.

Thanks to the completion this year, of projects valued at hundreds of millions of rands, the South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited (SANRAL) has ensured that the province’s natural beauty can be explored along routes that define infrastructural excellence.

The upgraded roads in the Eastern Cape have the additional benefit of boosting local communities through job creation and skills development programmes.

Improvements to the R63 from Fort Beaufort to Alice have made the trip between the former and the N2 at Qonce (King William’s Town) seamless and eliminated driver uncertainty over this stretch of road.

While it remains a single carriageway, it has been widened to a 13.4-metre-wide cross-section from the previous width of seven metres, which hampered the driving experience through the presence of gravel shoulders, sharp curves and steep slopes.

The cost of the overhauled 23km stretch of road was R715-million. It now also boasts designated climbing lanes for trucks transporting goods, greatly minimising congestion and traffic build-up this festive season.

Over 60 SMMEs were brought on board for the three-year project, with more than a third owned by women.

SANRAL Southern Region Manager, Mbulelo Peterson, hailed the rehabilitation of the road as creating “safer and smoother travel” for motorists.

The R468-million upgrade of the R67 national route from Swart Kei River to Komani, meanwhile, is already proving a game-changer for the driving public and will delight motorists travelling in December.

Phase 2 of the project was completed in May this year. Eighteen kilometres of the R67 were upgraded. This included road works improvement, bridge widening, new bridge construction, bus bays, bus bay shelters, street lighting, drainage, fencing, road signs, guardrails and gabions.

A total of 571 jobs were created and 56 SMMEs subcontracted, with R168-million spent on black-owned enterprises.

The mountainous area through which travellers journey is picturesque during the day and presents numerous opportunities to pull over and take photographs of the Eastern Cape landscape at its finest.

Improvements have also been made to two sections of the R58; the first between Maletswai (Aliwal North) and Lady Grey (50km), and the other a slope stabilisation project between Lady Grey and Barkly East (66km) where rockfalls have been a problem for years.

The projects carried a cost of R272 500.000 and R452 000.000 respectively.

One of SANRAL’s most significant achievements this year was finishing the R816-million rehabilitation of section 19 of the N2 between Nqadu (km 21.40) and Mbokotwana River (km 38) and safety improvements at Dan’s Place (between km 17.00 and km 19.00) in the OR Tambo District Municipality.

The annual average daily traffic is some 10 200 vehicles a day, of which as many as 940 are trucks. For holiday travellers driving from congested Mthatha, which lies 20km away, this has proved a major headache in the past.

With the upgrades, their journey will now become a lot easier – and safer.

The project included rehabilitating 10 major access roads linking to the N2, while about 12km of community access roads linked to these routes were upgraded from gravel to surfaced roads.

Again, this area offers breath-taking views. Ancient rolling green hills on either side of the road encapsulate why it became the place of the Eastern Cape’s great kings.

There is further cause for celebration for those travelling in and around Mthatha.

Section 7 of the R61 national route from Baziya to Mthatha Airport has undergone significant improvement, a development that will delight both road users and air travellers making use of the facility.

Peterson said access to the airport and Mthatha was improved as a result of the wider road prism and surfaced shoulders. Numerous intersections were also upgraded for better traffic flow and easier access to the R61.

Access roads leading to the R61 were also re-gravelled or surfaced to ensure safer road use, which is particularly welcome during the summer holidays.