Blog - Page 177 of 196 - SANRAL Stop Over

Blasting on the R61 in the Eastern Cape

16Feb2016

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SANRAL would like to notify travellers that blasting will be taking place on the R61 between All Saints and Baziya on 16, 17 and 18 February.

On each of the three consecutive days blasting will take place at 3 pm, requiring the closure of the road for 15 minutes on each occasion. This means passage along the route will be blocked between 3 pm and 3.15pm on Tuesday, February 16, Wednesday, February 17 and Thursday, February 18.

“Motorists are asked to plan their trips accordingly and to use caution when making use of the road,” said Mbulelo Peterson, Sanral Southern Region’s Regional Manager.

SANRAL apologises for any inconvenience caused.

Traffic Advisory for R72: Expect more delays

12Feb2016

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SANRAL would like to notify motorists of travel delays on the R72 between Port Alfred and Fish River due to blasting taking place at the Shaw Park quarry. The blasting will take place on Wednesday, 17 February 2016 at 15h00.

The Shaw Park quarry is situated next to the R72, near the intersection of the R72 with a gravel road leading to Shaw Park.

The road will be temporarily closed and motorists can expect a delay of approximately 30 minutes.

Motorists are requested to plan their trips accordingly, to be cautious when making use of the road and to comply with the directions of safety personnel.

Traffic Advisory for R72: Blasting between Port Alfred and Fish River

9Feb2016

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SANRAL would like to notify road users of travel delays on the R72, due to blasting at the Shaw Park quarry. Work will start at 15h00 onwards on Wednesday, 10 February 2016. The road will be closed while blasting goes ahead, and motorists can expect a delay of approximately 30 minutes.

The Shaw Park quarry is situated next to the R72, near the intersection of the R72 with the gravel road leading to Shaw Park. The quarry extends from the SANRAL kilometre markers 20,800 to 21,200.

Motorists are requested to plan their trips accordingly and be cautious when making use of the road. We ask that motorists comply with the directions of safety personnel. SANRAL apologises for any inconvenience caused, says SANRAL Southern Region Regional Manager, Mr Simon Peterson.

Automated toll payment – a holiday traffic success story

8Feb2016

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The recent introduction of automated toll payments at toll plazas across the country, which went live on 4 December 2015 ahead of the holiday season, has been a major success.

“This is a major achievement and we are delighted that motorists have taken up this method of payment in such numbers,” said Vusi Mona, spokesperson for SANRAL (South African National Roads Agency).

The payment method involves motorists paying their toll fees automatically through a registered tag in their vehicle. This means that they are able to pass through lanes that accept tags as well as other payment methods or through dedicated tag only lanes, the latter where they slow down for the tag to register but are not required to come to a stop.

This automated payment option was switched on at toll plazas on the following routes:

Since this payment option went live in December (with only the Mariannhill toll plaza having been activated earlier on 11 November 2015), the total tag transactions processed for the month numbered 825 518.

This figure equates to just over 10 percent of the total transactions for all SANRAL routes where automated payment was made available – with the N1 toll routes registering the highest tag volumes at over 13 percent.

In addition, the N3 Toll Concession (N3TC) – the toll concessionaire for the N3 toll route from Heidelberg to Cedara – also switched on automated payment at their toll plazas. With the N3TC automated transactions added to the total, the December collections exceeded one million transactions. The N3TC’s tag transactions were around 13 percent of their total route transactions.

Also interesting to note is that the introduction of the two special dedicated tag only Shesha Lanes at the Mariannhill toll plaza led to over half of all tagged light vehicles being processed in these lanes. Similar dedicated tag only lanes are in the process of being implemented at the other toll plazas.

“This really speaks to the ease and convenience of this form of payment. Of course, those who prefer to do things manually still have the option of stopping at the toll gate and paying manually,” said Mona.

About 40 percent of tag transactions at Mariannhill were for heavy vehicles, making it the toll plaza processing the highest percentage of tagged heavy vehicles across the SANRAL toll routes.

Mona said South Africa was one of few countries around the world with a fully interoperable electronic toll collection system linked to central transaction clearing. The result was speedier traffic flow at toll plazas and increased convenience for motorists.

N12 sinkhole repair underway

29Jan2016

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SANRAL would like to notify all motorists about the road closure of a section of the N12 between Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp for a period of six to eight months, due to the existence of a sinkhole in that area.

A temporary precautionary detour will be created, through surfaced median crossings and surfaced shoulder widenings within the N12 road reserve. This median crossing arrangement will be in place by mid-February to early March and traffic can be accommodated in both directions.

SANRAL will ensure that every effort is made to fast-track the process in order to re-open the road as soon as possible.

PE’s Bright Star

26Jan2016

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Port Elizabeth can count 18-year- old, Theresa, as one of its exceptional young achievers who is striving to make an impact in the medical industry.

Theresa, a former matric pupil at Collegiate Girls’ High School, was a SANRAL scholarship recipient in 2014. She was selected because her results were excellent, and for an essay she wrote on her future goals in which she spoke about the science-based careers she was considering.

SANRAL and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) have hosted the Science, Technology, Engineering and Related Management/Mathematics (STEM) Fields Pipeline Project since 2000. The primary objective of the initiative is to promote and develop the physical science skills of Grade 10 to Grade 12 learners in the Eastern Cape, and to ultimately increase the number of learners qualifying to study for degrees in science and technology.

“The STEM programme is very helpful. Learners get to explore the practical side of the syllabus. The experiments help us understand the work better. We got to build atoms and saw how these worked,” said Theresa.

In the recent Matric of the Year competition, Theresa won the academic category. Her other achievements include:
– First place in the province in the annual ATKV Afrikaanse Olimpiade for two years in a row (2014 and 2015)

– Selected as a member of the International Young Mathematics Convention team that participated in India (2014)

– Winning the Royal Society of Chemistry award at the Eskom National Science Competition (2014)

– And being invited to represent South Africa at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Pittsburg, USA (2015).

On top of all of this, Theresa was head of her school’s debating society, she plays the clarinet and recently completed her grade 8 Trinity music syllabus.

She plays social tennis, enjoys French cooking and loves ballroom dancing. She is passionate about French culture and is also learning to speak French.

As a member of the International Young Mathematics Convention team, Theresa was able to attend a school in Lucnow, India. She described the experience as “extremely amazing”.

“Lucnow has two or three campuses and between these there are 50 000 learners. They are extremely intelligent. Some were already finishing high school at the age of 14. To compete against people of that calibre is an amazing experience.

I have dreams for South Africa and I would like to thank SANRAL for giving me an opportunity to take a step closer to realising dreams of my own.”

Theresa will be following in the footsteps of her father, Dr Hannes Brummer, by studying medicine at Stellenbosch University.

But unlike her father, who is a urologist, Theresa plans to specialise in pathology or surgery. Her parents are her role models.

“My mom is my rock. She’s always there for me. I can call on her anytime when I have a bad day. She’s taught me to be optimistic. My dad is my big inspiration. We’re very much the same person, focused and passionate about our work.”

Theresa’s advice to other youngsters is that even though school work is important if you don’t get the results you want, work to turn that negative into a positive and set yourself new goals.

Saving The Old Man, Oldenburgia Grandis

26Jan2016

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SANRAL has teamed up with Rhodes University to save a rare, endemic plant species, Oldenburgia grandis, and has now brought this species home to help educate Grahamstown residents in the local botanical gardens.

In conjunction with the transplanting of the species, SANRAL also funded a botanical research project to provide new insights into the reproductive biology of this species.

Before this research, carried out by Rhodes University post-graduate Emma Mostert, very little was known about the reproductive biology or transplantability of Oldenburgia grandis.

The project is funded by SANRAL.

Mostert’s studies focus on the ecology of the species, such as population structure and reproductive biology, including seed production, germination and pollination.

Mostert describes the species as “a very strange plant that looks almost prehistoric, which makes finding out about aspects of its ecology fascinating”.

Steven Robertson, SANRAL Project Manager, said it was standard procedure to conduct Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) before starting work on a road project.

SANRAL has also teamed up with Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) to conduct research on the contribution of national road reserves to conservation in the eastern portion of the Fynbos Biome, which forms part of the Cape Floristic Region, one of the country’s biodiversity hotspots.

This is of particular importance in the Tsitsikamma area as most of the original fynbos has been converted to pine plantations or agricultural land.

“The SANRAL approach to environmental management is an integral feature of the agency’s established record of corporate citizenship. Respect for the natural environment is an important goal for us,” said Simon Peterson, SANRAL Southern Region Manager.

Top Award For SANRAL At Global Meeting

26Jan2016

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SANRAL’s prominent international standing was once again confirmed when it was given the award for the best paper submitted at the 25th World Road Congress (known as PIARC) held in Seoul, South Korea in November last year.

Also, its exhibition stand was adjudged to be one of the best. The congress brought together 122 national road administrations from around the globe and is held every fourth year.

This year its theme was ‘Roads and Mobility – Creating new value from Transport.

Five SANRAL employees delivered papers (Alex van Niekerk, Randall Cable, Kersen Naidoo, Alice Mathew and Mogole Mphahlele) while CEO Nazir Alli chaired two sessions.

The congress brings together so many views and so much information from so many participants that it can truly be described as an ideas platform, where information is shared and there is indirect mentoring. Being exposed to so many different cultures in one place is equally important.

Many countries exhibited but the South African exhibition was seemingly the most popular. It was crowded every day and several other exhibitors praised it, notably the United States and Mexico.

Information Helps For A Safer Drive – Here’s Why.

26Jan2016

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SANRAL has two important and highly effective communication systems that provide road users with information to ensure they arrive safely and with travel-time predictability.

The Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) currently operates in Cape Town, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. The Advanced Traffic Information System (ATIS) collects information about our road networks, where information such as traffic flow conditions and incident notification alerts are disseminated
for purposes of pre-trip and en-route decision making.

The information is distributed on SANRAL’s i-traffic website, the Variable Message Signs (VMS) and to local radio stations and social media platforms reaching hundreds of thousands of motorists. We also use the recorded incident footage to train and debrief our operational personnel, emergency services, traffic and law enforcement stakeholders to ensure effective on-scene management and to assist with resource management.

Creating Jobs, Expanding Skills

26Jan2016

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The current slow rate of economic growth and lack of job opportunities calls for urgent measures to be taken to nurture small, medium and macro enterprises (SMMEs) as a means of bolstering this relatively underdeveloped sector of the South African economy.

The development of SMMEs forms part of SANRAL’s broader socio-economic development strategy.

An example of a thriving SMME in Limpopo is Expectra 388 cc.

It is mainly responsible for Routine Road Maintenance (RRM). The company is currently doing all the maintenance on the road from Polokwane to Burgersfort. Over the past six years, Expectra has done work worth R17 million.

In the past year alone, it carried out RRM work worth R3.7 million.
The company has also invested heavily in the training and development of its employees for current and future employment opportunities.

Some of the training that has already been offered to its workers include:
– Road Traffic Management
– Basic Fire Fighting
– Occupational Health & Safety
– Stone Pitching
– Installing Gabions & Reno Mattresses
– Level 1 & 2 First Aid
– Erecting and Maintain Guardrails
– Aids awareness

Expectra is also involved in corporate social investment in the province, such as the refurbishment of the Thabong Drop-in Centre in Mankweng. It is an after-care centre that caters for young children between seven and 14 years old in the area, run by one woman – Paulina Letsoalo – with the assistance of a few community volunteers. They feed the children and provide a safe place for them to go to after school where they can do their homework and get a meal – sometimes the only meal they get for the day.

The refurbishment project entails the construction of an entire playground, a soccer field as well as a netball court and six toilets. Further work will include fencing around the property, starting a vegetable garden, planting of grass and trees. All these will ensure that the centre provides a homely environment to the children it was established to assist.

George Brand, Route Manager for Expectra said:

“It is always a pleasure and honour to do work for SANRAL. What brings us pride is that the results are always visible and noticeable to road users.”

The company also supplied the centre with a 10 000 This SMME sources all of its local labour entirely from the litre water tank, tables and chairs as well as constructed George Brand Route Manager for Expectra communities along the routes it services.