South Africa’s arterial routes on the road to disaster

Faced by an arterial meltdown, transport lobbyists are calling for a return to rail transportation to alleviate the “unacceptable and growing levels” of congestion.

Alarming reports show that the country’s main arterial routes are being “pounded to destruction” by heavy vehicles and that some roads may only last another five years.


Among those urging for greater efforts to speed up the revival of rail transport is Mike Patterson, the chairperson of the Zululand Chamber of Business’s Empangeni division and a long-time head of the region’s division of the South African Road Federation.

“What we need to do is to provide the infrastructure that will transform rail transport into a viable alternative to the present transport system,” he said. “Bottlenecks and delays caused by broken-down and overturned trucks are now a daily occurrence. We need solutions, and very quickly.”

Independent Online