Durban - The Shallcross and surrounding communities as well as motorists are rejoicing after the reopening of the road linking Shallcross Road and Blundell Road took place on Sunday.
The bridge linking Shallcross and Blundell Road was washed away when debris lodged against the bridge prevented the Mhlatuzana River water from flowing downstream.
The blockage caused the water to split and divert to the side and washed away part of the road.
Concerned residents of Shallcross and Chatsworth formed the Pompeni River Bridge Project Team to drive an initiative to have the project expedited.
A spokesperson for the team, Marcus Richards, said the short-term solution was to clean up the river banks and on top of the portion of the bridge remaining of all the debris.
This assisted engineers to get to work. Richards said backfill and other road engineering took place once the river was diverted back on course.
A long-term solution, he said, was for a newly designed bridge.
Resident Kader Goolam decided to set up a team to look at the urgent need to fast-track the restoration and rebuilding of the bridge.
Goolam said he was concerned about the safety of residents who had to now look for alternative routes, one of which proved dangerous.
The residents formalised a committee of 10 who engaged the services of a private bridge and geotechnical engineers.
The floods destroyed homes and damaged infrastructure and claimed the lives of 435 people. An estimated 17 438 households were damaged.
Following the recent floods, the MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison Neliswa Peggy Nkonyeni launched Operation Vala’mapotholes on Monday.
The initiative, which will be rolled out throughout the province, is targeted at eradicating potholes and rehabilitating and maintaining road infrastructure across the province.
“This is particularly crucial as the department has over R5.6 billion worth of infrastructure that needs to be reconstructed or repaired following the April floods,” Nkonyeni said.
She added that the pothole-patching teams are going to focus on pothole repair, crack sealing and rut repair. The long-term goal of this programme is to ensure that potholes are fixed within 24 hours and to have an emergency team in all local municipalities to speedily attend to potholes.
Daily News