Question NW305 to the Minister of Transport
24 March 2023 - NW305
Sithole, Mr KP to ask the Minister of Transport
Whether, given that the road and rail infrastructure is in a perilous state (details furnished), his department has put any (a) programmes in place to ensure that new roads currently under construction can manage the strain placed on them by the influx of large trucks and (b) collaboration with other departments in place to increase safety on roads known to be high accident zones; if not, why not, in each case; if so, what are the relevant details in each case?
Reply:
a) To address the ageing infrastructure, SANRAL has an ongoing programme to strengthen the road network which assists to cope with the high volumes of traffic
b) The department is collaborating with provincial road authorities by providing ring-fenced allocations within the Provincial Road Maintenance Grant for upgrades and refurbishments of the road network. In terms of enhancing safety, the Department has made a special allocation from PRMG to improve safety on provincial strategic road networks such as the addition of passing and climbing lanes, guardrails, signage road markings and etc.
In addition to the above and by way of example, referring to the uPhongolo incident. I have approved the establishment of an Interdepartmental Task Team made up of State Departments at national, provincial, and local, including entities within my Department under the Roads Branch Interventions ranging from short, medium to long terms for example the provision of learner transport, aggressive road safety campaigns, establishment of satellite traffic station by the KZN, Road Traffic inspectorate, deployment of additional national traffic police to the KZN province, SAPS to request additional highway patrol vehicles to improve visibility; joint operational plans between KZN and Mpumalanga on the border of the two provinces; SAPS to engage with the local magistrate in prioritizing cases of traffic violations and to follow-up on all cases of vehicle accidents that happened on the N2 where there is no progress; SANRAL to erect and improve road signage of the N2 and urgently install rumble strips and speed humps.