Anyone who has travelled on the N1 into Cape Town’s CBD can attest to the chaos that is morning traffic. Let’s not mention the level of patience that it takes to head back home when the clock strikes 5, especially when you call the Northern Suburbs home.
As the Mother City continues to grow, the influx of cars on the roads has been put under the microscope. Truly, who loves spending two hours in traffic each day?
Thankfully, there’s some good news on the horizon. The City’s urban mobility directorate is etching closer to accessing funds that will enable it to tackle congestion on road networks across Cape Town, as per IOL.
The directorate received approval from the City’s mayoral committee for nearly R203.5 million in order to use towards its projects and to add to its Congestion Relief Programme, an initiative that aims to reduce congestion during peak hours in Cape Town.
Urban Mobility Mayco member Rob Quintas stated that his department would approach the City for approval.
“Council made available R750 million in 2015 for a Congestion Relief Programme to address congestion in the Blaauwberg, Kuils River and Kommetjie areas. However, we need more funding for more projects to address congestion on our road network.”
According to Quintas, if additional funding is acquired, the City intends to expand the capacity of its existing road network and work on providing additional public transport services.
“Our road network must enable the movement of our residents, goods and services without inconvenience. Congestion hampers our productivity, and comes at a great cost to commuters in terms of time spent on the road and money for fuel, over and above the environmental harm through carbon emissions.”
“It is important that we build more capacity, be it additional lanes or missing road links to support economic activity,” Quintas said.
Also read:
Picture: Unsplash