Long awaited duelling of Sandown Road begins

21-02-2019
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Cbn
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After 11 years of planning, the Sandown Road Link was opened on 29 October 2013. The opening was celebrated by not only those attending the “Road Opening Ceremony” hosted by township developers Garden Cities, The Milnerton Estates and The Aska Property Group, but equally celebrated by the motorists using this east-west link between the West Coast Road and the N7 Freeway.

From the word “go” the road link was an immediate success. Traffic streamed along the road right after the official opening by Minister Robin Carisle, and bottles of champagne were handed out to the happy motorists. It was said then that work on implementing the second carriageway needed to start immediately.

Sandown Road is threaded through the residential suburbs of Sunningdale, Parklands and Sandown as well as the Rivergate commercial and industrial development. The opening of this east-west link brought relief to motorists previously restricted to using the internal road networks of these suburbs. Locals will remember queueing on Gie Road for what seemed like endless periods.

The link provided further stimulus in growing these popular suburbs. Suffice to say that with the growth here and the need by the outer-lying areas for improved movement through these suburbs, capacity of the link was reached in just five years.

The requirement for the dualling of Sandown Road Link was prioritised by The Western Cape Government, The City of Cape Town and the developers. The Public Private Partnership, the effort and the co-operation between the parties and the joint funding agreement enabled the speed with which this road can now be dualled.

Two consulting teams were appointed to facilitate the design and manage the on-site construction.

HHO Africa were appointed to deal with the dualling of Sandown Road from the intersection of Parklands Main Road to the east, including a new road over rail bridge, the dualling of Malibongwe Road, the surfacing of the second carriageway over the Diep River and the roadworks up to the N7.

This contract has been awarded to Baseline Civil Contractors in an amount of R87 Million. The contract commenced on 9 November last year. The contractors will establish two site camps, one nearest the road-over-rail bridge and another south of Sandown Road in Rivergate. Material is now being ordered with construction commencing in earnest during January 2019.

BVI Consulting Engineers were appointed to deal with the dualling of Sandown Road from the intersection of Parklands Main Road to the west, through the suburbs of Sandown and Parklands to Sunningdale Drive in Sunningdale.

Tenders are currently being prepared for this section of the road with a view to the successful tenderer being appointed early in 2019.

The contracts will run concurrently with a view to completion of the respective sections simultaneously. Completion of the road dualling will take 12 to 15 months.

Better N7 access

And while the dualling is underway, the Western Cape Government will plan and construct a loop ramp from Malibongwe Drive onto the N7. This ramp, forming part of the future clover leaf intersection there, will greatly assist southbound motorists. Instead of crossing oncoming traffic lanes on their right, motorists will be able to take a left lane ramp and enter the N7 under the flyover travelling south.

There will no doubt be some inconvenience to motorists with construction of this scale taking place. Hopefully this article will comfort motorists in that there is light at the end of the tunnel – traffic flows into and out of the Parklands/Sunningdale/ Sandown and Rivergate area will be greatly improved.