A busy section of the R67 route between Whittlesea and Queenstown in the Eastern Cape will soon be safer for motorists and communities alike, as Concor Infrastructure, under the supervision of KBK Engineers, makes good progress on its contract for the South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited (SANRAL) to widen the roadway and improve vertical and horizontal alignments.
Scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2019, work has been ongoing since November 2016 on a 15,4 km stretch of the road between Whittlesea and the Swart Kei River, including a 740 metre section that runs through the town of Whittlesea.
According to Concor Infrastructure site agent Lwandiso Reve, the road remains a single lane carriageway, but a three metre shoulder is being added on each side, making for safer driving conditions. The widening has also meant extensions to culverts and cattle crossings under the roadway.
“SANRAL wanted us to ensure that traffic flow was disrupted as little as possible, so we have created six diversions around the areas where culvert and other extensions were necessary,” says Reve. “This has allowed us to keep any stop-go arrangements to a minimum.”
Even in town, where the main street is a hive of activity and traffic during daylight hours, Concor Infrastructure is conducting roadwork at night to ease the disruption for residents and motorists. While this section of the road is receiving patching and a 40 mm asphalt surfacing, the rest of the work involves the full reconstruction of the roadway.
Aggregate has been quarried, crushed and screened at a nearby source, providing material for two 150 mm selected layers of G5 material, one 300 mm sub-base layer of G5 material with G4 grading, and a 150 mm G1 base layer. AfriSam’s Roadstab is being utilised for road stabilisation, and the surface is completed with a bituminous single seal with 20 mm aggregate and slurry, or Cape seal.
Infrastructural work includes the extension of seven major culverts, as well as six livestock crossings under the road. Partnerships with small businesses from the local communities including the Enoch Mgijima local municipality, the Chris Hani District and the Eastern Cape Province are key to the project as part of Concor Infrastructure’s transformational focus on enterprise development, says Reve. This is also a SANRAL requirement.
Some 45 SMMEs have been contracted for work including subsoil drains, concrete line drains, kerbing, gabions and permanent fencing for the road reserve. Local enterprises have also been engaged to manufacture precast concrete bricks, blocks and kerbs, and have also laid paved roads in the communities themselves.
