Cape Town motorists can look forward to freer-flowing traffic in the first half of June when the Koeberg Interchange upgrade is complete, according to HHO Africa engineer Leon Bester.
Just over two years ago, Marius Fransman, then the MEC for Transport and Public works and now chairman of the ANC in the Western Cape, announced the R738 million project to smooth one of the most problematic interchanges in the city. For more than two years motorists switching between the N1 and the M5 have had to be extra patient on the interchange.
While the contractual completion date is November, the contractors had expected it to be by done by next month. However, that date was put back to the second week of June because of “industrial challenges”, including shortages of bitumen and steel.
Bester said supplies of bitumen, a petroleum-based product used in asphalting products, were depleted because of the many construction projects completed in preparation for the World Cup.
Group Five contractor John Colman said: “We are importing from Durban, but we need to stand in the queue like everyone else. The Cape Town refinery has indefinitely suspended the production of the particular brand of bitumen we use.”
Colman said steel supplies were low because of a shortage from the mills. “The steel is coming in at a steady stream. I’ve ordered everything I can possibly order and I will order more as soon as it is available.”
The construction of Ramp A, which separated the link between the M5 and the N1 in a southerly direction, is complete. Also complete is the realignment of the Salt River canal. The widening of the M5 viaduct and the link running from the M5 northbound to the N1 outbound are yet to be completed.
Bester said the only work that would be done on the road after June would be street lighting and landscaping, and this would not affect traffic. - Weekend Argus