While the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) is still firm in its conviction to fight the e-tolling of Gauteng’s highways in court, the South African National Road Agency (Sanral) said that the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) has cut travel times on the roads by as much as 50%.

Sanral said that information collected by TomTom from vehicles fitted with GPS systems has shown that the overall average travel time on the N1 North road section from Buccleuch to Old Johannesburg Road off-ramp has been reduced by 50%.

“This has been credited to the improvements on this road section brought about by the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP). According to the study, the travel time has been cut down to 13 minutes,” Sanral said in a statement.

The study also showed that the average speed through the Allandale Interchange has risen to 70km/h.

“TomTom presented these figures at their five-year celebration,” said Sanral.

“The study provides proof that Sanral has delivered what we set out to achieve with the implementation of the GFIP, which was aimed at helping to reduce congestion and improve the driving experience on Gauteng’s busiest roads,” the roads agency said.

“The improvement in travel time and average speeds was achieved despite a 28% increase in traffic volumes for this road section, from before the GFIP implementation until thereafter. These improved travel conditions also reflect the other benefits of the GFIP including improved fuel consumption and reduced vehicle running costs. Improved visibility from the median lights that span the entire upgraded road network will also aid in improving road safety.”

No mention of e-tolling is made in Sanral’s statement, simply stating that it is confident that when fully completed, the benefits of the project will be realised and enjoyed by all road users across the entire GFIP network, including the stretch of the N12 that is still under construction.

The delays on the roads due to congestion was one of the main points touted by Sanral and the Department of Transport for the decision to declare the GFIP roads as toll roads and collect e-toll on them.

The argument was that the time lost on congested roads cost the economy dearly and that a solution had to be found.

The court case contesting the rationality of the decision to use e-tolling as the mechanism to collect revenue to pay for the upgrades is still continuing.

Outa said on Tuesday that it has now raised just under R5m for its legal challenge, almost half of the R10.8m expected legal costs if the case runs its full course.

“We are encouraged by the growing number of corporate entities who are coming on board to support this extremely important case. Equally, more and more individuals and families are contributing as a result of both the social media campaigns in place and the real savings that households have made as a direct result of the interdict on e-tolling,” said Wayne Duvenage, chairperson.

Outa said that the court case is moving into the final stage of reviewing all the documents used in order to make the decision to e-toll.

“We are putting the final touches to the supplementary affidavits. We expect this matter to be heard in the next few months, but this will depend on technical delays and the appeal of the interdict, which is being heard in the Constitutional Court mid-August 2012,” Outa said.

Source: moneyweb