M4 traffic relief around the corner as road repairs near completion

Tags

---

30-06-2022
Read : 644 times
North Coast Courier
Source

Work initially began on the M4 bridge after members of the La Mercy Ratepayers Association (LMRCA) and community crowdfunded materials for the repair.

There is finally light at the end of the sinkhole, with two of the most flood damaged parts of the M4 about to reopen.

After almost two months of repair work, the M4 bridge at La Mercy and a major sinkhole at Boy’s Town, Desainagar are both close to completion.

The process was kicked off by the crowdfunding effort, which saw foundations restored, gabions installed and the gap backfilled and compacted with the relevant materials, said LMRCA and Joint Road Task Team member, Paul Ramlal.

“Once the process had begun, national treasury was able to release funds and South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members undertook the work,” he said.

When the Courier visited the site on Tuesday, final compacting was being done, with the top layer and tar still to be added.

The bridge is tentatively scheduled to reopen by July 9, although this is subject to weather conditions as well as other issues between the bridge and Umdloti.

“The bridge was obviously the main focus, but there were also three further partial washaways and one scouring (a specific form of erosion) on the M4 heading south from the bridge that needed attention,” he said.

For this work, Afrocon Construction was contracted and it is similarly hoped that repairs will be completed by July 9.

In this ‘before’ photo taken on June 2, a hole had been dug to reach the foundations. These have since been fixed and the hole backfilled.

At Boy’s Town, where a massive sinkhole developed during the second bout of flooding last month, the final portion of repairs are also underway.

Although cosmetically it may appear as if not much has changed, the majority of work has been readying the cavity for backfilling, which is generally a quick process, said Ramlal.

“Unfortunately, at the Boy’s Town site there was also infrastructure damaged which took time to fix. Underground power lines and pipes were both impacted.

“The power lines have been rerouted over the road and new pipes have been laid,” he said.

This work was also undertaken by SANDF soldiers, with funds provided by national treasury and oversight from the KZN Department of Transport.

It has been a crucial intervention, given residents between Westbrook and La Mercy have been forced to use a convoluted bypass through Desainagar and Seatides.

Aside from the extra time aspect, with a stop-and-go system being used during peak hours, a distance of around 40km has been added for the worst affected.

Amid unprecedented petrol increases and spotty services as a result of infrastructure damages, residents in these areas have experienced a torrid few months.

Nevertheless, Ramlal said he had seen an amazing effort from the community who have banded together throughout one of the worst disasters in recent memory.

“All of the guys at the stop-and-go are volunteers, dealing with frustrated motorists as well as they can given the circumstances. Our poorest residents have also been fed and clothed whenever needed. I am proud of this community.”

Elsewhere on the M4, another smaller sinkhole between Desainagar and La Mercy has not yet been repaired.

“After the floods we were told there are 44 major damage sites that need repairing. Unfortunately a smaller sinkhole is going to take time.”

Cars are able to pass as one lane survived, but it is hoped this will be shored up so that traffic can flow between the Watson Highway and Umdloti again.

The Tongaat River bridge has seen less action, although surveyors were on site during a Courier visit last Thursday.

The Department of Transport had not responded to timeline queries at the time of print.