Joburg has a R200m plan to ease traffic headaches

Mayor Herman Mashaba addressed the media on the Johannesburg Roads Agency's (JRA) new programmes to ease traffic congestion this morning.

"Whenever I speak to people about priority issues that need to be fixed in our city, faulty traffic lights are almost always mentioned at the top of the list," said Mashaba.

The JRA today launched its 'No Joint Policy'.

"For most critical, high-volume intersections, technicians will no longer join cables when an electrical fault is reported at a downed traffic light. Our new approach is that all joined cabling must be replaced with new cables," said Mashaba.

JRA Managing Director Sean Philips said they've budgeted close around R200 million over the next three to prioritise around 180 traffic lights annually.

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"There are more of these innovations coming in the future, but for now our main focus is on getting the traffic lights working, getting the basics right first. Our focus is on getting the repair teams out quicker, getting better diagnostics of the faults and doing better quality repairs so that the amount of down time is reduced," said Philips.

The Mobility Freight Head of Department, Darryll Thomas said out of 2100 traffic lights, they will first prioritise major intersections that experience highest levels of traffic.

"Currently we already have a list of 200 priority intersections and a lot of them fall on interchanges and major arterials. Once we have dealt with that first 200, we will prioritise the next batch," said Thomas.