More KZN toll plazas proposed

at least two more toll plazas - on the western doorstep of durban and near the industrial town of newcastle - have been proposed by south africa's roads agency.

neil tolmie, the regional head of sa national roads agency limited (sanral), confirmed yesterday his agency had proposed tolling the entire n3 route between durban and pietermaritzburg, as well as the n11 between ladysmith, newcastle and ermelo.

the proposed location of plazas had not been finalised, according to tolmie, but he did not rule out the possibility of building another toll-collection point between durban's n2 "spaghetti junction" and the existing mariannhill toll plazadurban-pietermaritzburg stretch earmarked
.

at present, only the 20km mariannhill section (between paradise valley and shongweni) is tolled. now the agency plans to toll an 86km section of the route.

"we are saying that there is a need to expand traffic capacity on both sides of the existing mariannhill toll road, and that there has to be a tolling strategy to deal with this," tolmie said.

the latest plans are expected to provoke further heated disputes on the country's toll road policy, over and above the controversial plans to erect major plazas at isipingo on the n2 highway, and near cato ridge on the n3.

durban city manager mike sutcliffe has already vowed to fight any proposals to locate plazas within the boundaries of the ethekwini metro boundaries.

further inland, the newcastle city council expressed surprise yesterday that it had not been consulted about plans to toll the n11 national road which links newcastle with the towns of ladysmith and ermelo.

ferdie alberts, newcastle's director of economic development, said the city would oppose the plan because there was no viable alternative route linking newcastle and durban harbour.

alberts said the proposal would exacerbate the transport costs between the two centres at a time of poor rail service from spoornet.

"one almost gets the feeling that the government allows the rail network to deteriorate in order to make toll roads more viable," said alberts newcastle is one of the country's largest industrial centres, and is home to steel giant iscor and a variety of other manufacturers such the dow chemicals subsidiary karbochem and the bayer subsidiary chrome international.

tolmie said yesterday sanral's proposals to extend south africa's toll road network - set out in the strategic vision documents "horizon 2010" and "declaration of intent 2002-2005" - were not cast in stoneand had not progressed to the point of final approval.

according sanral, there is an urgent need to arrest further decay of the country's road arteries by extending tolled
sections.

national treasury funding was sufficient to maintain just 40% of the country's untolled roads. vital road maintenance had been postponed for too long.

"far from saving money, cutting back on road maintenance increases the cost of road transport and raises the net costs to the economy as a whole."

the agency says the cost of delaying road maintenance for longer than three years raises the cost of such maintenance six times. if delayed for another five years, the eventual cost rises 18 times.

nevertheless, the department of transport recently
acknowledged a growing public opposition to toll roads, especially when this involves poor commuters with no option of using alternative roads.

the department has raised the possibility of offering discounts to some commuters, an independent review of toll road strategy and the reintroduction of a dedicated fuel levy.