The City of Cape Town has allocated approximately R35 million for an interim phase of the Kommetjie Road upgrade project which is due to start at the end of April.
The upgrade of the 900m stretch between the Kommetjie Fire Station and the Capri and Faerie Knowe intersection, is intended to alleviate traffic congestion between Wood Road and Capri Drive and to improve traffic flow at the intersections of Chasmay, Pokela, and Lekkerwater Roads, said City of Cape Town speaker Felicity Purchase.
Ms Purchase said during this interim phase, pending phase three, another lane will be constructed from the Capri and Faerie Knowe intersection past Living Hope up to Wood Road.
From Wood Road she said, the lane markings of the road will then be changed to create two lanes heading to the Capri and Faerie Knowe intersection on the Masiphumelele side of the Road.
She said the congestion is mainly caused by motorists stopping to let cars in from Lochiel, Pokela, Chasmay, and Lekkerwater Roads in Masiphumelele, as well as the Sunny Acres Centre.
To construct the lane, a portion of Erf 17776 that belongs to the Living Hope Trust will be used and construction of Living Hope’s new boundary wall is currently underway.
The old boundary wall will be removed once the new one has been completed to make way for the new lane.
The project will take approximately 55 weeks and is expected to be completed in June next year.
She said the City was also in the process of acquiring properties in preparation for the future phase three of the project which will extend to Fish Eagle Park.
She said 250 trees had been removed in October last year to make way for the relocation of electrical cables which was completed in November last year.
Living Hope executive director Victor Thomas said the organisation was in favour of the development as it will have a positive impact on everyone in the far south, especially residents of Ocean View, Kommetjie, and Masiphumelele.
He said construction of the new boundary wall was under way and is expected to be completed in about six months.
Chris Dooner, chairman of the Sunnydale Ratepayers’ Association (SRA) said the association was surprised to hear of the interim construction from the fire station to the Capri and Faerie Knowe intersection as it had expected it to be up to the Fish Eagle Park intersection. Future phases, he said, are to go all the way through to Kommetjie.
After a meeting with the City, he said, the SRA had been advised that due to a lack of funding for phase three, the City had decided to widen the road in the interim, adding that new bicycle and pedestrian lanes will be provided and all roads will be resurfaced.
He said the association thought that the City has come up with a design that should achieve the immediate aim of improving eastbound traffic flow past Masiphumelele and the Sunny Acres Centre.
Roadworks for the Kommetjie Road upgrade project started in October 2016, and was completed in June 2020 at a total cost of R256 million.
The 3.5km of roadworks included turning Kommetjie Road (M65) into a four-lane dual-carriageway between Capri Drive and Corsair Way and the rehabilitation of the existing roadway; turning Ou Kaapseweg (M6) into a four-lane dual-carriageway between Noordhoek Main Road and Kommetjie Road; improving the sight distance for road users at Ou Kaapseweg and Silvermine Road intersection; and adding turning lanes to improve traffic flow at four signalised intersections – Kommetjie Road and Capri Drive, Kommetjie Road and Ou Kaapseweg, Ou Kaapseweg and Buller Louw Boulevard, and Ou Kaapseweg and Noordhoek Main Road (“Kommetjie Road upgrade complete,” Echo, August 2020).
