Headache for Joburg motorists as city closes sections of M2 bridge

The Kazerne and Selby sections are expected to be closed for 12 months as they undergo rehabilitation by the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA). 

JRA engineer Thomas Chongo says the agency has already closed off the fast lane at Kazerne.

He adds that more sections may need to be closed off. 

"Currently we have one lane that is closed as you saw because of the state that it's in. We will continuously monitor and should the situation change or be worsened we will take the necessary action.

"But during construction the plan is to close as minimum as possible. We also have to do safety consideration in terms of the contractor himself and the workers as well as disrupting traffic, we have to balance the two. 

"As to how much of the bridge will be closed, we can't really say. We will optimise whatever solution we put on the table," Chongo says. 

The costs of the rehabilitation is estimated to be at least R50 million. Work is scheduled to  begin in mid-October.

City manager Dr Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni says they are still not certain where the money to rehabilitate the bridge will come from. 

"The first issue is for us to raise more money, we have (anti-crime) Operation Buya Mthetho. The mayor has asked us to do more so that we can raise in excess of R50 million to cover up for the shortfall. 

"But due to the regulated nature of local government we cannot exactly say which projects we will be reducing from because this has to go to the adjustment budget in December. But at the moment we have agreed there must be expenditure on this project to a point where there is need to stabilise this emergency,” says Lukhwareni.