The summer of our discontent

August 9, 2022

Home » The summer of our discontent

We have all experienced pain at the pump this summer. It appears that many unforeseen circumstances contributed to this most recent spike in oil prices—increased travel demand, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and a world that discourages new fossil fuel exploration.

This isn’t the first time our nation has felt the stress created by high fuel prices. For those of you who were not yet on the planet, America experienced an oil crisis in 1973. In October of that year, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced an oil embargo to punish nations, including the United States, that supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War. The embargo lasted until the following March. During that time, the price per barrel of oil quadrupled from $3 to $12. While that doesn’t seem like a lot to those of us used to $100+ per-barrel prices, it was a major shock at the time.

Not only was fuel more expensive, it was also in short supply. Long gas lines appeared ev ....

Other 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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