GEORGE NEWS - With the heavy rains lately more complaints are rolling in from residents living next to Voorbrug Road (DR 1597), a gravel road behind Mooiuitsig Kombuis off the R102 (Old Airport Road), which has changed into an obstacle course for 4x4s.

Last week George Herald reported on the serious condition of Remskoen Road in Wilderness, another gravel road that leads to frustration for the residents living next to the road. 

Whereas Remskoen Road falls under the jurisdiction of George Municipality, Voorbrug Road is the responsibility of the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM).

Historical issue

Although the problem at Voorbrug Road has been aggravated by the recent downpours, it is historical in nature and has had residents living next to the road at their wits' end. Three residents made contact with George Herald about the matter. They all asked to stay anonymous.

"It has been like this for years. We complain regularly. They do come and scrape it, but clearly it is not enough," said one of the residents. "In some areas in the road concrete pipes are visible from all the scraping."

After 3,02 km of gravel road, Voorbrug Road continues as a tar road leading to Great Brak River Town. Fifteen families are situated next to Voorbrug Road and are totally dependent on this road to venture either to Great Brak River or George. "The people in Great Brak Heights working in George would also want to use this road, but because of its bad condition they drive all the way around to the R102," said the resident.

Municipal feedback

In their response, the GRDM said although only the Western Cape provincial government is permitted to give formal feedback on roads in rural areas of the GRDM, they will try to answer some questions from a maintenance perspective, since the provincial spokesperson has been tied up with the recent floods in the Western Cape.

The 3,02 km of gravel road in question is a proclaimed provincial road, with GRDM as maintenance agent.

Asked if the GRDM plans to top and roll Voorbrug Road in the near future, they answered that only normal routine blading with the maintenance grader is possible. "The road was bladed in May and will again be bladed in July." 

The GRDM is not aware of the road being on a priority list to be upgraded or re-gravelled. The budget for Voorbrug Road forms part of the normal maintenance budget.

GRDM maintains 6 400km of roads as an agent of the provincial department, of which 2 700km are minor roads. Apart from the minor roads, the GRDM serves 3 037km of gravel and 680km of paved roads.

The GRDM confirmed that they receive regular complaints from road users about Voorbrug Road: "The road is inspected regularly and maintained to the best of our ability within capacity. The whole network is under pressure at the moment due to the more than normal rain pattern."

Mud bath

One of the complainants said it is almost impossible for the families living next to the road to travel with anything else than a 4x4. "After rains such as what we have had the last few days, it is one mud bath full of pot holes," she said. 

She requests that the road be topped and rolled, not merely scraped, which is apparently done about four times a year.

Another resident said one can easily lose the fillings in your teeth when you try to negotiate through the potholes in Voorbrug Road. Yet another resident expressed her concern about the impact the condition of the road will have on tourists who frequent the road. 

"There is so much development in the area and all those heavy vehicles use the road. Ilita Lodge has busloads of people staying there who also have to risk their lives on the road. I shudder to think what kind of impression it creates among tourists - especially when we show our glory on our beautiful roads in the Western Cape." (Read the resident's full letter in Afrikaans on the Letters Page.)

GRDM's explanation of grading cycles

To ensure that all roads get their rightful blading as part of the roads budget and capacity, the blading of roads is determined as follows:

• Traffic counts are done on a regular basis on all roads. Roads with a higher traffic count must be scrapped more frequently.

• The amount of heavy vehicles, tourists and types of products transported by road are also taken into account.

• Roads are also divided into nodes. A road of say 30 km long with a large industry within the first few km that causes high traffic volumes will cause traffic to decrease to the rear where there are only one or two road users. The node point will then be where a real difference in traffic is brought about by circumstances. The first node will then get more attention than the back part. Other roads that join a road and cause more traffic necessarily also have an effect.

• From the above, it is determined how many times a road or part of a road should be bladed. (All data are put into a computer and the information is obtained. It is done provincially.) The information is also verified by local staff to ensure that it makes sense.

• As a point of departure for the blading cycles it is assumed that there should be 11 cycles per year. (Roads staff work 11 out of 12 months.)

• If it is determined that a road should be bladed every month, it will appear on each cycle. If only twice a year it will only be distributed on 2 of the 11 cycles. A road that has to be bladed 6 times a year will therefore appear every second cycle.

• The blading is then done per cycle. One cycle must be completed before going to the next one.

The following realities must also be taken into account:

• The demand for blading in a year is much larger than can be done with existing capacity. By working on and staying with the cycles, it ensures that all roads and road users have an equally beneficial advantage for blading capacity.

• Sometimes things like rain damage occur. As soon as we become aware of damages that are dangerous to the road user, the grader will repair those places. Note that only the damages are repaired and the whole road is not bladed. As soon as damages have been repaired, we return to normal cycles at the same place where we last stopped.

• It may happen that traffic on a road increases significantly due to, for example, a quarry that opens where large trucks transport gravel or sand for a period of time. When we become aware of such a situation, that section of the road will be placed on the blading cycle more often. Such an arrangement may be temporary or permanent. (If permanent, traffic counts will prove that.)

• Graders are monitored monthly in terms of productivity and quality of work. Training of operators and adjustments are made continuously.

• Minor roads are not part of the blading cycles and are only done once a year and only on request by road users.

• This practice has been used since 2009 and complaints about roads have since decreased remarkably. In the past, road users who complained most received the most attention. Now the capacity is divided fairly, and the blading programme for graders can be defended as it is determined according to actual figures and in a scientific manner.

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