THERE has been a lot of queries and confusion from motorists who make use of 7th Avenue in Alberton North, because of the road island that has recently been built.
There is now only one one-way lane instead of a normal road that goes both directions. This is causing a lot of inconvenience and confusion for motorists who must use this road on a daily basis.
The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) explains why this island had to be built, despite the inconvenience it is causing and will continue to cause.
“Seventh Avenue in Alberton gets exponentially steeper from Gerrit Maritz to Piet Retief streets and if heavy vehicles stop along 7th Avenue at its intersection with Piet Retief, the majority of them cannot pull away again.
“This results in these large vehicles rolling backwards into trees, boundary walls, etcetera. As the public, in general, do not even adhere to stop signs, one can easily come to the conclusion that signs prohibiting heavy vehicles will also be ignored. Thus, by merely installing prohibitive signs, the required results wouldn’t have been yielded.
“The island built at the intersection of 7th Avenue and Gerrit Maritz Street is the only means to ensure that heavy vehicles will not be able to get to the intersection of 7th and Piet Retief and create a safety hazard at this intersection.
“Heavy vehicles will be directed along Hendrik Potgieter Street to get to Second Avenue in order to get to Elandshaven in the North.
“The road safety aspects were therefore weighed against the possible inconvenience that will be created by redirecting traffic through Alberton North, and the constructed island is the ideal solution to the road safety problem that was identified at the 7th Avenue and Piet Retief Street intersection.”
– Themba Gadebe, EMM Media Spokesperson.
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