Cape Town - Kilometre-long tailbacks have become common for residents of the South Peninsula with the multimillion-rand upgrade of Main Road dragging on for years longer than anticipated.
The project began in 2008 and was supposed to take three years, but the completion date is now only expected to be in 2017.
With last week’s fires causing the closure of Boyes Drive, Ou Kaapseweg and Chapman’s Peak Drive, motorists had no option but to use the congested Main Road and sit in traffic for hours.
Some businesses are worried they won’t be around to see the end of the project.
Louis Scholey, owner of the Antique Warehouse on the Main Road, Muizenberg, said his business was on the brink of closure. “I’ve lost R1 million in five years. I’ve had to retrench staff whom I’ve had for 10 years and whom I trained.”
Scholey’s main problem is that customers can’t reach his shop without dodging traffic or stumbling over dug-up pavements.
“I’m gatvol. I’ve been hanging in for five years, but there is no parking for my customers and unsafe access.”
Owner of the Slow Life Café, Paul Kahanovitz, also on the Muizenberg Main Road, said that like Scholey’s business they depended on walk-in trade. “We’re at our wits’ end. We’ve taken to selling coffee to people stuck in the early morning stop/go.”
At one stage scaffolding covered their entire building for five months.
“And all the noise and dust is not conducive to the calm atmosphere we are trying to create.”
Dave Jones, owner of the Empire Café on York Road, Muizenberg, which has been cut off from the Main Road by the road works, said his turnover had dropped by around 20 percent.
He has been trading for 12 years, six of which have been affected by the road works.
“It pushes you down to breaking point,” he admitted.
There is even a Facebook site called “Quicker than Muizenberg Roadworks” which points out things that took less time than the roadworks.
Comments include: “Chapman’s Peak Drive, in its entirety, was built from 1915 to 1922. Shorter than the forsaken Muizenberg road works” and “two years, two months and five days – that’s how long it took to build the Eiffel Tower, with construction beginning in 1887. Five years quicker than fixing the beloved stretch between Muizenberg and KalkBay.”
Jones and other business owners said contractors Martin & East had been helpful and accommodating, but the lengthy project was taking its toll.
On Monday, Andrew Rush of Kayad Knight Piesold Consulting told a community liaison meeting in Kalk Bay that the Muizenberg section was expected to be completed at the end of June. This is the third and final phase of the project.
Simon Liell-Cock, ward councillor for the Simon’s Town area, said it would have been a lot quicker if they had been able to close the road and get on with the work, but that had not been an option.
An estimated 120 000 to 150 000 residents lived in the South Peninsula, plus all the members of the Navy who commuted to Simon’s Town every day.
More than 20 000 cars used the Main Road every day as well as more than a million tourists who visit Cape Point each year.
Liell-Cock said tourism had not been affected by the roadworks with figures increasing year on year.
But they were concerned about the 7 000 more housing units planned for the area which would add to the congestion.
“The roads need to be open for the economy to thrive,” he said.
Felicity Purchase, ward councillor for Fish Hoek, said one of the reasons for the project taking so long was that no one knew what to expect – many of the pipes under the road had been laid more than a century ago.
Many of the sewage pipes had been leaking their contents into the sea and they had also had to redo a water main which had a defective connection. The project includes new sewage pipes and stormwater drains, and replacing parts of the pavement.
Although this project ends at the Silvermine River in Clovelly, sewage pipes needed to be replaced all the way to Cape Point.
Purchase said there was a plan to introduce a MyCiTi feeder route in five years, which would start in Scarborough and go down the Main Road to Fish Hoek station.
Cape Argus