Six years ago, Leshaba Matlade’s brother was killed in an accident on the N1 highway, which cuts through the middle of the village of Botlokwa in Limpopo. He was not the only road fatality. “Every weekend there was an accident and people were killed,” said Leshaba.

Botlokwa lies on the N1 highway between Polokwane and Beitbridge Border Post. The town is divided by the busy highway, so that people live on one side but do their shopping, attend school, or let their livestock graze on the other. In recent years, the community has suffered increasing road fatalities. Paying a simple visit to a friend’s house could be a lifethreatening exercise.

The elders of the community, together with the provincial roads authority, approached the South African National Roads Agency with a request to reroute the highway so that it no longer crossed Botlokwa. SANRAL heard the community’s pleas.

After some discussion, it was decided that rather than rerouting the highway, the national roads agency would lower the road and fence it off, then build a pedestrian bridge on the exiting ground level for the residents. That way, the community would not be inconvenienced travelling from one side of town to the other, but they’d be safe, because the highway would be inaccessible on foot.

Bertie Brits, the SMEC South Africa engineer, said that there were a few designs shared between SANRAL and the community.

“They wanted a level crossing, so that the bridge would be on the natural ground level, and the N1 has been dropped by 7m. The bridge has two 3m-wide walkways on either side of the road and there are two additional pedestrian bridges at either end of the town, but those go above street level,” he said.

Once the plans had been shown to the community, they were satisfied. And in July 2014, the building of the road commenced. Wherever possible, SANRAL used SMMEs from the town and employed locals for unskilled and semiskilled positions, such as road monitors to direct the flow of pedestrians safely during construction.

“In total, we lowered 1.4km of the highway, with an average of 180 people working on the project at any one time,” said Brits. “We’ve only used local subcontractors and labour.”

Throughout the process, SANRAL engaged with the community and its leaders to ensure that everyone is satisfied with the final result and how it was achieved.

“We have monthly meetings between SANRAL, WBHO (the contractors) and ourselves. And the week before these meetings, we meet with the community liaison committee to get its input and feedback,” said Brits.

Site agent for WBHO William Mahobja said the skills transfer was a vitally important part of the project.

“You need to impart skills so that when you leave, you leave on a high note. It’s important that the people have benefited on an individual level, because there wouldn’t have been a project without them.”

During construction, traffic was rerouted along another road through Botlokwa – the “old N1”, used prior to the ’90s. But even so, from the day that construction started, no road fatalities have been recorded in the town.

The community has expressed its thanks to the national roads agency and people who use the bridge report feeling safer and happier in their hometown.

“Years ago, this road was killing our people,” said Donald Solly Mohale, the community liaison officer for the project. “Once, there were five deaths and six accidents in a week. We asked SANRAL to move the road and they offered us the bridge, which we accepted with both hands. Since SANRAL came on site, we have never had a fatal accident. The community is happy to have the bridge and to have the agency by our side. We are happy now that we are safe.”

Today, the bridge is a substantial structure, spanning the newly surfaced highway that flows beneath it. The community can continue its daily movement from one side of the town to the other at natural ground level, without fearing for their safety. This structure has changed their lives.