WESTERN FREEWAY UPGRADE

Updated: 8 November 2006

1. Current Work Areas

Construction work commenced in November 2005 and the current work areas consist of the following:

WESTERN FREEWAY a) Eastbound Carriageway (Direction CBD) • Construction of a concrete barrier in the median from the onramp to just after the Tollgate bridge, to allow for widening of the eastbound carriageway and to improve road user safety. • Widening of the outer edge of the carriageway from Jan Smuts Highway onramp in Sherwood to the bridge over Brickfield Road, to allow for 5 lanes. b) Westbound Carriageway (Direction Pietermaritzburg) • Construction of a concrete barrier in the median from Tollgate Bridge towards the , to allow for widening of the westbound carriageway and improve road user safety. • Widening of the westbound carriageway from Berea Road South entrance ramp towards Brickfield Road to allow for 5 lanes. • Widening of the westbound carriageway between Brickfield Road and Jan Smuts Highway, including the widening of the Waterfall Road Bridge, to allow for 5 lanes between Brickfield Road and Jan Smuts Highway. c) Night work on both the East and Westbound Carriageways • Rehabilitation of the existing road surface from Candella Road Bride to Jan Smuts Road Bridge.

OTHER AFFECTED ROADS a) Jan Smuts Link Road in the vicinity of Westridge Park • Construction of the New Link Road from Ridge Road to Jan Smuts Highway. c) Brickfield Road • Widening of the Brickfield Road Bridge to allow for freeway widening, including excavations for widened bridge abutments. d) Randles Road • Repositioning of Randles Road to allow for the freeway widening. e) Garth Road • Repositioning of Garth Road and freeway widening. f) Waterfall Road • Widening of the bridge in Waterfall Road to allow for freeway widening. 2. Traffic Notifications

a) Notification is given that night work on the existing road surface commences on Sunday 10 September 2006 between Candella Road and Jan Smuts Highway and will continue throughout November 2006.

b) Restrictions on the West Bound Carriageway from Brickfield Off Ramp to Sherwood Off Ramp on 11 November 2006 from 9:00 to 21:00. There will be two lanes opened to traffic from 9:00 to 13:00 and traffic will be moved to one lane from 13:00 to 21:00. Brickfield On Ramp will be closed to traffic while applying road marking in that area. Detour signs will be erected with a diversion route for traffic.

c) Restriction on the East Bound Carriageway from Jan Smuts Off Ramp to Brickfield Off Ramp on 12 November from 7:00 to 19:00. Traffic will be restricted to one lane for the entire closure period.

Motorists are advised to be cautious of lane drops and subsequent weaving of traffic and to adhere to the posted speed restrictions.

The above closures are subject to weather conditions.

3. Current Traffic Accommodation Measures

Road users are advised that every effort is made to keep the traffic disruption to a minimum. To this end, during peak hours at least three lanes per direction of the Western Freeway are open to traffic. Road users are urged to heed the speed restrictions and to exercise caution during construction. The following measures are in place at the mentioned locations below:

WESTERN FREEWAY a) Eastbound Carriageway (Direction Durban CBD) and Westbound Carriageway (Direction Pietermaritzburg) The previous lane configuration has been re-striped to 3 lanes of reduced width (3,1m vs. 3,5m) per direction. The reduction of lane widths was necessary to allow for construction work on either sides of the carriage ways to be done while keeping at least 3 lanes open to traffic. For safety purposes the travelling public and adjacent construction work are separated by means of temporary concrete barriers. The reduction of lane widths and the presence of construction work immediately adjacent to the carriage ways necessitated the implementation of a 60km/h speed restriction.

During the off peak hours of 9h00 to 16h00 sections of the fast lane per direction are temporarily closed where construction work is being done in the adjacent median. This is done to allow construction vehicles to safely access the median with out endangering the travelling public. Where a fast lane closure is applied a speed restriction of 60km/h is implemented ahead of and maintained through out the fast lane closure. Motorists are warned to adhere to the signposted speed restrictions and be cautious of fast lane traffic joining the middle lane.

At night from 19h00 to 5h30 the next morning sections of the Western Freeway is closed down to a single lane per direction to allow for the rehabilitation of the existing road surface. These operations are carried out from Sunday night to Thursday night. No night work is carried out on Friday night and Saturday night. Motorists are again warned to adhere to the signposted speed restrictions and be cautious of lane mergers ahead of the works. b) Eastbound On Ramp from Jan Smuts Highway (Sherwood) The left hand shoulder of the on ramp from Jan Smuts Highway remains closed and barricaded to allow for the construction work. The on ramp lane remains available for traffic joining the Western Freeway.

OTHER AFFECTED ROADS a) N3 Approach to the Western Freeway The N3 approaching the Western Freeway from Pietermaritzburg has been temporarily reduced from 3 lanes to 2 lanes to facilitate with the reconfiguration of the Western Freeway lane widths. This has been done by means of dropping the fast lane between the EB Cloete interchange () and the N2 on ramp to the N3 (Start of Western Freeway). Ahead of the fast lane drop a speed restriction of 60 km/h has been imposed. Again motorists are warned to adhere to the speed restriction and be cautious of fast lane traffic joining the middle lane. Further along where the N2 joins the N3 and the Western Freeway a third lane is introduced to allow for the N2 traffic merge. b) Berea Road South to Jan Smuts Link Road The old link road from Berea Road South to Jan Smuts Highway has been closed permanently. Motorists heading to Jan Smuts Highway are advised to continue along Berea Road South, turn left into Ridge Road and immediately right into Charles Strachan Road which joins Jan Smuts Highway. c) Randles Road Randles Road has been barricaded and narrowed leaving one lane available for traffic travelling towards Brickfield Road. Motorists must be cautious of busses and taxi’s suddenly stopping to load passengers. d) Garth Road Garth Road has been barricaded and narrowed, leaving one lane available for traffic travelling towards Waterfall Road. e) Waterfall Road Waterfall Road has been narrowed where it passes under the Western Freeway to allow for the Waterfall Bridge widening. f) Brickfield Road The north bound (to Overport) slow lane of Brickfield Road has been closed to traffic. The closure comprises a short section passing underneath the Western Freeway to allow for bridge widening. 4. Project Description and Plan

The eThekwini Municipality is to spend R110 million on a major upgrade of the Western Freeway. The freeway, which is one of ’s busiest roads, was built in the 1970’s and has outlived its service life. Rehabilitation is now urgently required to prevent a rapid deterioration of the road.

The Western Freeway serves as the gateway to the city for all traffic entering the city from the N2 North and South and the N3 to the west via the EB Cloete Interchange. It will be one of the vital connections needed for the smooth running of the 2010 Soccer World Cup in terms of road infrastructure. The freeway from Candella Road overpass in the west to Tollgate Bridge in the east will be under construction and widened at certain points. An additional lane in both directions of traffic flow will be created, extending the existing three-lane freeway to four lanes from Candella Road to Jan Smuts Highway Interchange. In addition to the four lane sections, the work will also provide for five lanes between Jan Smuts Interchange and Brickfield Road Interchange and from Westridge to Tollgate Bridge. This, along with improvements to various ramp entrances, will improve traffic flow, especially in the morning and afternoon peak periods.

The Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs (DAEA) has given environmental approval for the road upgrade, and construction will be in progress from November 2005 with completion by the end of July 2007. Mr Dave Thomas, from the eThekwini Roads Department, said “It is a major route which will affect many road users while roadworks take place to replace the old roads which were built in the 1970’s.”

Construction will take place in three distinct phases. The first phase will involve work on the outer edges and in the median to create space for the freeway widening. The work in the phase includes repositioning of Randles Road and Garth Road, widening of Waterfall and Brickfield Road Bridges, a new link road from Tollgate Bridge via the disused westbound on-ramp bridge onto Jan Smuts Highway opposite the Mayville Post Office, and the construction of a new concrete median barrier.

The second phase involves the widening of the freeway to create sufficient width for the additional lanes. The third and final phase involves the road rehabilitation and resurfacing. Much of the third phase work will take place at night in order to minimise traffic disruption.

The roadworks will result in some disruption to traffic, but road users are urged to bear in mind the long-term benefits of the upgrade. Every effort will be made to minimise disruption by ensuring that at least three lanes are open to traffic during peak periods. eThekwini Municipality appointed Vela VKE / Eyethu Joint Venture as the Consulting Engineer responsible for the design and construction supervision of the project. Tel (031) 240 7300. eThekwini Municipality also appointed Group Five & National Asphalt / Milling Techniks Joint Venture Consortium as the Contractor responsible for the construction of the works. (031) 792 8060.