More than 1 000 people have signed a petition calling for repairs on the R304 Old Mamre Road in the Western Cape.
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The petition, dubbed ‘Western Cape Government Fix #DeathTrapR304’ on Change.org, calls on Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, City of Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, Mobility MEC Ricardo Mackenzie and Western Cape Provincial Minister of Infrastructure Tertius Simmers to fix the road (also known as Bomepad), which is littered with several potholes.
‘Many road-users have suffered severe damages to vehicles, especially when travelling to work in the early morning hours and at night. When stuck on this road in the dark, safety becomes an issue as well. There was also one fatal accident which was a direct result of a vehicle hitting a pothole.’
‘Countless reports of vehicles being damaged due to the severity of potholes on that road as well one fatal accident directly linked to it must surely qualify this road as a case of emergency. The Bomepad has for years been notorious for very bad accidents and now, with all of the potholes it has become more of a death trap.’
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Rob Quintas, mayoral committee member for urban mobility in Cape Town, told IOL that the road is currently maintained by the Western Cape Government (WCG). ‘[The WCG} is the responsible road authority, except for a short section where it becomes proclaimed Provincial Divisional Road 1141 through Atlantis.’
As per a statement by the Department of Infrastructure, it is aware of the condition of the road. ‘Planned maintenance on this road, as part of the larger provincial road network, had already commenced on June 19 2023 and is scheduled for completion by end-July 2023. This maintenance project of approximately 6 Million on the R304 (MR215) covers approximately 24 km of road.’
Quintas says the City has received complaints about the condition of several roads. ‘To address this issue, our teams have been dispatched from our 21 depots to carry out repairs on reported potholes. Part of the repair work includes visual inspection of the roads that have been reported, and adding those to our priority list for maintenance and resurfacing. Inspections have continuously been conducted to assess the severity of the damage and prioritise the repairs accordingly.’
‘Unfortunately, after the rainy period we had, potholes and surface failures are more eminent and a large number of roads have potholes or surface failures. These are being addressed by specific projects set up by the various District Road Infrastructure Management teams as well as by depot maintenance teams performing remedial maintenance work.’
The petition currently has 1 078 signatures and aims to garner 1 500.
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