Transport News
Pylon-spire construction advancing steadily at Msikaba bridge project
The pylon spires of South Africa’s Msikaba Bridge megaproject are soon to tower almost 130 m high at each side of the 197-m-deep Msikaba river gorge. The bridge forms part of the South African National Roads Agency’s N2 Wild Coast project, and is being constructed by the CME joint venture – a partnership between black-owned South African construction companies Concor and Mecsa.
AfriSam participating in Cape Interchange upgrade
Cape specialist Haw & & Inglis Construction has, because July 2021, been carrying out an upgrade of Cape Town’s Refinery interchange, supported by building materials from AfriSam. The project is due for conclusion in early 2024, delivering two new greater and wider bridges over the N7 highway– a new road-over-rail bridge alongside the existing bridge, which is undergoing rehab works, and updated access ramps.
WSP working on several major road upgrades in Gauteng
Consulting engineering company WSP is actively associated with numerous significant tactical highway jobs throughout Gauteng, working with designers, as well as the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport, to perform massive provincial roadway projects that strategically targeted at unlocking the potential for socioeconomic growth and development in the area. "" We’ve managed to develop a durable relationship with the department, leveraging our … record and … consulting services to add to Gauteng’s infrastructure advancement,” WSP transportation and infrastructure principal partner Sameshan Naidoo states.
SA’s logistics chain in ‘desperate’ need of PPPs – SAAFF
Port and rail parastatal Transnet and government cannot “go it alone” to repair South Africa’s strained logistics network, says South African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) CEO Dr Juanita Maree. “Our current ports and rail model is, at best, archaic, compared to international standards, while it also fails the country’s socioeconomic growth and development goals.”
Transport sector has role to play in sustainable economies – Chikunga
The transportation sector is not unblemished by environment modification and also has considerably high unfavorable externalities, and this necessitates ingenious thinking around the opportunities to renavigate transportation systems towards greater durability and becoming a true enabler of sustainable economies. This was emphasised by Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Lydia Chikunga, delivering the keynote address on the first day of the forty-first South African Transport Conference, being kept in Pretoria this week.
Waterproofing roads using nano-modified emulsion could reduce potholes, expert says
University of Pretoria (UP) Department of Civil Engineering Professor Gerrit Jordaan has said the essential to resolving South Africa’s pothole issue is utilizing modified emulsion and nano-materials, which he noted was low-cost and already being produced in South Africa. Throughout a session of the Southern African Transport Conference, which is being held from July 10 to 13, in Pretoria, he explained that the main problem with pavement structure was water seepage and resultant cracking, worrying the need for avoiding pits by resurfacing roads with the right materials rather of needing to keep fixing potholes that come back.
Dept moves towards implementation of Green Transport Strategy
Department of Transport (DoT) research and development chief director Themba Tenza has confirmed that the department is moving towards implementation of its Green Transport Strategy (GTS), which commits the country to significantly reducing greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions in the economy. “Our emphasis now is on implementation, because the strategy has been present since 2018. We’ve made some moves towards implementation as a department, as well as a country," he told delegates attending the annual South African Transport Conference, which is being held from July 10 to 14 in Pretoria.
RTIA confirms work has started to roll out Aarto nationally
The Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) is lastly all set to roll out the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act of 1998, as well as the Aarto Amendment Act 4 of 2019, after various hold-ups and a litigation process. A ruling by the Constitutional Court delivered on July 12 ultimately confirmed the legality and credibility of the 2 Acts, which now makes it possible for RTIA to continue with the implementation thereof on a nationwide scale.
Five more trucks set alight in Limpopo and KZN, raising the truck arson total to 16
The number of trucks that have been destroyed in arson attacks in the past three days has risen to 16 after five more were set alight in KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo on Monday. Eleven were torched over the weekend – six in KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday and five in Mpumalanga on Sunday night.
Bleak picture painted of the state of South Africa’s traffic signals
The country’s traffic signals are currently in a dire state and various factors need to be considered to resolve this, Innovative Transport Solutions MD Jan Coetzee said during the South African Transport Conference, in Pretoria. He pointed out that the operation or lack thereof of traffic signals was an indicator of the broader state of transport infrastructure, which is "woeful" and deteriorating.