Finishing flyovers ‘won’t ease traffic’
CAPE TOWN’S unfinished freeways will not be completed, at least not under Transport and Public Works MEC Robin Carlisle’s watch.
Responding to a question in the legislature by DA MPL Mike Walters yesterday about when the Eastern and Western Boulevard overheads would be completed, Carlisle said public transport was the provincial government’s primary focus for now.
He said there were no plans to complete the freeways, and that any available funding would be pumped into expanding the city and province’s public transport network.
“There is no timetable for the completion of the unfinished freeways,” said Carlisle.
“We have also been advised that the maintenance of those bridges is not good at all.”
Carlisle said it would cost the province R2.5 billion to complete the bridges, funds that were not available.
“There is no point in building freeways,” he said.
“That would just result in traffic congestion being moved from one area to another. If we build more roads, we grow the number of private vehicles.
“Under my watch, we will not build more roads for private motor cars. There is no private vehicle solution to Cape Town’s road congestion. We have to get people on to public transport.”
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