The Sandpruit Bridge opened to traffic on 1st November 2016. Traffic around the Grayston Drive and Kathreine Street in Sandton, Marlboro Drive, Alexandra and neighbouring suburbs has been a challenge for many years and negatively affecting communities living in the areas and also those who commute and work around those areas.
The JDA implemented the construction of the bridge and the overall scope of works for this project entailed the widening of the Sandspruit Bridge from 2 lanes to 6 lanes, weeding of the Katherine Drive and Marlboro intersection from 2 right turning lanes to 3 right turning lanes, and construction of wider pedestrian walkways.
The new bridge will be both higher than the old bridge – and therefore better protected when the Sandspruit River is in flood – and considerably wider.
The old, two lane-bridge was completely unsuited to the volumes of traffic that traverse the Katherine Street stretch between Grayston and Marlboro Drives daily. The new, six-lane bridge will bring an end to traffic bottlenecks at this point, while opening the way for the BRT route that the City is laying down along Katherine Street.
All of this work was accompanied by upgraded, sidewalks, kerbsides, traffic signals, street lighting and signage, and in some cases underground services.
The Sandspruit Bridge forms part of a bigger development programme which is Phase 1C of the Rea Vaya BRT. hase The phase itself as a whole includes the establishment of high-quality cycling and pedestrian routes and the integration of Rea Vaya with other modes of public transport. This will include:
- A five-kilometre dedicated walking-cycling pathway to accommodate the more than 10 000 people who walk between Alexandra and the Sandton CBD daily; and
- A new transport system in the Sandton CBD that incorporates the Gautrain station, pedestrians and cyclists.
The bulk of this is scheduled to be complete by April 2017, after which BRT services between Sandton, Alexandra and the CBD will begin, followed by the introduction of feeder routes to extend the network to Rosebank, Randburg, Greenstone, Ivory Park, Rabie Ridge and Midrand.
Executive Manager for Development Implementation for the JDA Siyabonga Genu, said the JDA is spearheading the entire Phase 1C BRT construction that the new Sandspruit Bridge commenced in November 2014 and it cost the City of Joburg R 63.8 million for the bridge construction.
Issued by:
Johannesburg Development Agency
Email: smonyai@jda.org.za