The JohannesburgRoad Agency (JRA) has developed a draft design for the future upgrading of Jan Smuts avenue to a dual carriageway from Northwold drive to Bolton drive and from Eighth avenue to Kent road in Rosebank, to improve mobility and decrease congestion on the main arterial route.
The avenue, which carries around 3 500 vehicles in peak hours, has 18 intersections along its route which link the northern suburbs, including the wider Fourways area to southern suburbs such as Braamfontein and the Johannesburg central business district (CBD).
The design for the estimated R87-million project follows a geotechnical study, a traffic count and an investigation of the existing stormwater infrastructure to determine the scope of work required for the upgrade.”The proposed upgrade also allows for the inclusion of planned bus rapid transit lanes as part of the city’s integrated transport network plan,” said City of JohannesburgTransport MMC Nonhlanhla Makhuba.
The JRA has now embarked on a consultative process with respective ward councillors and has planned engagement meetings with residents and business forums for their input, which includes discussions on heritage aspects and existing trees along the route.Once all parties concerned have been engaged, the interim designs would be finalised and companies would be invited to tender for the construction works.
