Cape Town - Residents and taxi associations from Wynberg have appealed to Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille to place an immediate moratorium on the South Road/Brodie Road couplet scheme as part of its MyCiTi plans for the Lansdowne/Wetton Road Corridor.
They have also asked for an immediate stop to the eviction of about 30 families from the South Road area.
In a memorandum handed to the mayor’s office this week, the South Road Families’ Association, Wynberg Residents and Ratepayers’ Association and East and West Transport Associations said they “categorically oppose” the proposed road scheme.
The groups have asked the city to set up an inclusive task team of all affected parties to consider viable alternatives to these two proposals.
“The Wynberg community welcomes the rollout of the MyCiTi to Wynberg, recognising that improved public transport will play an essential role in addressing the spatial and socio-economic inheritance in Cape Town. However, the South Road/Brodie Road couplet scheme does nothing to overcome the predominance of vehicle-orientated city growth or encourage commuters to shift to public transport.”
City officials and councillors, including mayoral committee member for transport Brett Herron, met last week with the community to share the city’s plans for Phase 2 of the MyCiTi service.
This included information about the proposed couplet along Brodie and Main roads – a set of one-way lanes in opposite directions – to alleviate congestion and improve traffic flow, and the new dual carriageway planned for the South Road between the M5 freeway and Main Road.
This would be constructed on a road reserve, and houses along this route would have to be demolished to make way for the MyCiTi infrastructure.
The affected communities, including the taxi associations, raised strong objections at the meeting.
In the memorandum, it was noted that none of the 300 taxi operators using the East and West Wynberg transport interchanges were consulted about the route.
A tender for the design and construction of Phase 2A infrastructure has already been advertised.
The residents claimed that the proposed couplet would impact on taxi operators’ livelihood, would destroy historical residential areas and would affect businesses in the Wynberg CBD.
“We request the city to consider the Wetton Road and the Rosmead Avenue/Broad Road Corridors as viable alternatives.”
The city has indicated it would keep communities informed of its plans, and that the planning was still very much at the conceptual phase.
Cape Argus