Construction works to improve the R512 or PWV3 should be completed in
20 months and will enhance traffic flow in the Hartebeespoortdam area,
said SANRAL’s Planning, Toll and Transport Manager Alex
van Niekerk.
The road stretches from the R512 to the west of the dam, through
Pampoennek, to the connection with the N4 to Rustenburg.
The route was planned in the ’80s and partially built, explained Van Niekerk.
The new construction connects the two previously built routes and increases
route continuity to the North West from the west of Pretoria and Johannesburg.
Developments in recent years around Hartebeespoortdam have meant that
traffic increased and long-distance movements were interfering with local
traffic.
Traffic flows
will improve by October 2019, when construction is scheduled to come
to an end.
Excavations at Pampoennek have started and a 15m-deep stacking wall
has been installed to the west. Construction of the foundations, including pile
foundations for the five-lane bridge over the existing R560, has begun.
As far as possible, SANRAL strives
to preserve historical structures
– in keeping with legislation of
the South African Heritage Resources
Agency.
Any structure that is more than 60
years old must be protected in terms of
heritage requirements.
It is against this background that
SANRAL left the historical, single-lane Hamilton Bridge
over the Wilge River intact, and is building a new double-lane bridge next to the current one on Murray Street, as part of the upgrade of the N5 between Harrismith and Industriqwa. During the Anglo Boer War (1899- 1902), British troops were deployed near Basuto Hill – the area known as Wilgepark. To enable the soldiers encamped in that area to reach the town, a suspension bridge was built over
the
Wilge River by the Royal Engineers for
easy crossing of the river.
The structure was washed away in
March 1904. By then, the regiments
were gradually moving to barracks
on King’s Hill and complete repair of
the bridge seemed unnecessary. The
troops made a temporary footbridge of
planks resting on barrels . Today, at the same spot, a sturdier structure called the Hamilton Bridge, named
after Sir Hamilton Goold Adams,
governor of the Orange River Colony,
provides access to vehicular traffic from
the town crossing the Wilge River. It was
opened to traffic on 7 August 1907.
Soon, a few metres away, the new
Murray Street bridge will carry this
traffic.
APR/MAY ‘18 | ISSUE 19 