Damaged Tolwane Bridge to undergo R33m repairs
The Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport has invested more than R33 million towards the restoration of Tolwane Bridge in Mabopane, North of Pretoria.
The Bridge – which serves as an important link between communities as it crosses over the Tolwane River - was washed away during heavy floods in 2014. As a result of the damages, local commuters and operators had to take a detour while travelling to neighbouring communities.
Detailed design investigations by the department revealed that the existing bridge structure did not have sufficient capacity to handle floods, necessitating construction of a new bridge structure.
Due to the required size of a new river bridge to enable the accommodation of the design floods, the road will be raised by approximately 2 meters.
Launching the project, provincial MEC for Roads and Transport, Ismail Vadi said that the construction of the new river bridge will include a new design with the capacity to handle floods.
“The project’s scope will include the re-construction of a new two lane, single carriageway, surfaced, rural road. Furthermore, the re-constructed structure will entail upgrading of the storm-water drainage system. These new upgrades will take into account designs that accommodate 20 year flooding for minor structures and 50 year flood recurrence for major structures,” MEC Vadi said.
Additional upgrades include the reinstatement of the Road D603 to negate of the current impassibility of road, upgrading the road to single carriageway surfaced road within appropriate road reserve widths, integration of the new road with the existing infrastructure and improvement of road user safety through above measures amongst others.
Upon completion, the bridge is envisioned to promote safe road infrastructure for its users and shorten travel time for local commuters.
The project is expected to be completed in the next 12 months.
For more information, please contact:
Melitah Madiba
Cell: 073 644 9935
E-mail: Melitah.madiba@gauteng.gov.za
