City of Cape Town delays Brackenfell Boulevard upgrade despite Sanral’s N1 expansion

City of Cape Town delays Brackenfell Boulevard upgrade despite Sanral’s N1 expansion

– Desiree Rorke

  • The City of Cape Town has no immediate plans to upgrade Brackenfell Boulevard despite Sanral’s upcoming N1 bridge expansion.
  • Vredekloof CID’s Leon Brynard criticises the City for missing a critical opportunity to fix congestion issues.
  • The City cites budget constraints and has placed Brackenfell Boulevard low on its list of priorities, to the frustration of local residents.

Due to budget constraints there are no immediate plans by the City of Cape Town to upgrade Brackenfell Boulevard to a dual carriage way on either sides of the N1 bridge, this despite the fact that the South African National Road Agency (Sanral) is now going ahead to broaden the bridge in a planned N1 upgrade project, set to start next year.

According to the concept plan – perused by TygerBurger – the Boulevard bridge will be converted into three lanes, two in a northern direction, with the single lane remaining in a southern direction.

According to Leon Brynard, chair of special rates area Vredekloof CID, this is a massive, and nonsensical missed opportunity for the City, who for years stressed the fact that Brackenfell Boulevard could only be doubled once Sanral broadens the bridge.

“It appears as if there is a bureaucratic power play here, at the expense of the residents and road users. For years the provincial government of the Western Cape and the City of Cape Town have argued that Sanral does not want to widen the Brackenfell Boulevard bridge because there are no funds as the Western Cape Government does not want toll roads,” Brynard told the newspaper.

“Now Sanral is going to upgrade the N1 which includes quite a few intersections, including the Brackenfell Boulevard bridge, but they are only going to make it three lanes, as the City is not going to upgrade the Brackenfell Boulevard,” he says.

“The City argues that doubling Brackenfell Boulevard is not a priority now. Then why did they argue all these years that Sanral was the problem, and not just said that it is not a priority. If Sanral is going to continue with the current planning by changing the bridge to only three lanes, they are never going to come back at a later stage to make it four lanes.”

City consultation

In a response from the City to the CID’s comments on the 2024-’25 budget the City held that Brackenfell Boulevard is not one of the City’s most congested roads.

“It (Brackenfell Boulevard) will only be addressed by the City once the other more congested roads have been addressed,” the City stated, but in the same breath added that the widening of the road can go ahead sooner than later now that Sanral includes the widening of the bridge in their upgrade.

According to Brynard it seems as if no consultation had taken place between the City or Sanral on the matter.

“This is something the City should negotiate with Sanral because if it is not done now when Sanral is ready and willing to do it, it will be an opportunity lost and Sanral will never come back and the ‘blaming game will continue’.”

Brynard continued to say there was no public participation on the matter and that unilateral bureaucratic decisions were made.

“What is also worrying is that all the development applications in the area recommend that Brackenfell Boulevard should be doubled, but the City ignores this when they approve new developments left and right against the will of the residents,” says Brynard.

The latest example of such a development is the 250-unit residential development in Vredekloof East that has already commenced, on which according to Brynard there was insufficient public participation.

“This is going to have a direct impact on the traffic in Brackenfell Boulevard, but it is being ignored.”

The traffic impact study done for the City on this specific application by independent transport professionals conclude that the dualing of Brackenfell Boulevard north and south of Hillcrest Road is warranted as a result of the proposed developement.

According to Brynard urgent intervention is needed to find a solution to this pickle as it will leave thousands of road users in the lurch.

Response

In response to a media inquiry made by TygerBurger, the City’s Mayco member for urban mobility Rob Quintas states the obvious.

“The City acknowledges that Brackenfell Boulevard is congested. Brackenfell Boulevard is on the prioritised list of identified congestion projects, but like other projects in the congestion programme, due to limited budgets, projects have to be implemented according to the prioritised list,” he said.

He continued to say that the City will be able to tie into the bridge widening that Sanral is proposing once budget is available and in this way, in time, incrementally upgrade Brackenfell Boulevard to address the congestion being experienced.

In conclusion he said: “Every new development in the city in terms of the City’s Development Charges (DC) policy, has to pay their share of the development charges due.

“These DCs are used to implement measures to mitigate the impact of the development. The City is busy exploring using DCs to fund the upgrading of Brackenfell Boulevard.”

EMERGENCY NUMBERS

24 Hour CONTROL ROOM:
0860 123 VSC
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PATROLLING VEHICLE:
073 647 3135

VCID OFFICE (8:30am - 4:30pm):
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Brackenfell Police Station:
021 980 5700

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