There’s nothing like a proposal for a development being rejected due to traffic, to get local authorities’ asses into gear and figuring solutions out.

If you have lived in the Deep South for more than five years, you may have noticed a significant increase in traffic. It is easy to blame the roadworks along Kalk Bay Main Road, which have progressed to the road along the edge towards Clovelly, but you can also thank all the new developments that have taken root along the contours of the mountains.

Just last month a big noise was made about a possible building project in Kommetjie, which included a development of 254 new houses on three connected sites. It was rejected, because there was no plan to deal with the heavy traffic over Ou Kaapseweg.

If you have to leave for work an extra hour early now, just so you can miss the traffic over Boyes Drive, Ou Kaapseweg, or Kalk Bay Main Road without paying for Chappies, you probably don’t want an extra 254 houses worth of traffic on the road.

Worse is the drive back home, sitting for ages just to put your feet up after a hard day’s graft.

Frustration levels rise to the max.

Now, a study is being conducted by the city’s transport authority Transport for Cape Town (TCT), and will look at the current and future access needs within, to, and from most of the affected Deep South areas.

As Gordon Stevens might say – Boom!

The downside – it will take eight months to complete, and then it will need some sort of action. IOL explains:

The study will consider the capacity of the road network in the far south, taking into account the movement patterns of private vehicles, public transport and non-motorised transport such as walking and cycling.

The key focus routes for the study include Kommetjie Road, Main Road, Ou Kaapseweg, Chapman’s Peak Drive, the Glencairn Express Way, Main Road from Simon’s Town to Muizenberg, and Boyes Drive.

The pressure points of morning and afternoon peak-hour periods as well as those associated with the summer holiday season, will also form part of the research.

A draft version of the report will then be available to the public – let’s just hope the study has some substance, otherwise we will all need a Vespa to beat the traffic to and from work.

[source:iol]