October 5, 2006
By Lucky Sindane
JOHANNESBURG Roads Agency (JRA) has Alex's streets in its sights, and has set aside an estimated R7-million over the next 18 months for the upgrading of Alexandra's road infrastructure.
The aim is to make the township's roads user friendly for public transport. The agency took officials from the City's department of development planning, transportation and environment and ward councillors on a tour of Alexandra on 4 October to show them some of the work it is doing to support Public Transport Month.
"The aim of this tour is to show the councillors and officials the work that we are doing as JRA and encourage them to use public transport," said the agency's general manager of operations, Alan Agaienz.
Work under way in Alexandra includes the clearing of stormwater drainage, street naming and signage upgrading. But there are some challenges regarding the upgrading of the road infrastructure.
"We have a problem with people who do their washing in their yards, and pour the water on to the road after doing their washing," Agaienz said. "The water damages the tar and we end up having potholes in our roads.
"The other challenge is theft. We put up road signs and streets names using aluminium poles, but people steal these for scrap within a few weeks. If they steal them again, we won't replace them."
During the tour the councillors raised the issues of street naming in Alexandra and the lack of stormwater drainage on most streets, which was a problem when it rained.
"Only a few streets are named in Alexandra," said Sina Gwebu, a ward councillor. "It's very difficult to give directions to people who want to come visit here. Most of the streets don't have storm water drainage if there is it would be a very small one … A lot of work still needs to be done here in Alex but we are very happy [with] what the JRA is doing."
The Johannesburg Roads Agency is set to upgrade the streets of Alexandra
As part of its contributions to Public Transport Month, the City is promoting the use of public transport by its employees as well as its ridesharing initiative, RideSmart.
It has also planned various activities centred on four themes identified by the national Department of Transport, namely safety and security; infrastructure and 2010 plans; public transport; and non-motorised transport.
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