The City of Johannesburg is making progress on repairing road and related infrastructure that has been damaged by extreme weather conditions.

Earlier this year, the Johannesburg was hard hit by excessive damage to infrastructure due to severe weather conditions which necessitated a R103.5 million emergency repair investment for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of six city bridges.

The Johannesburg Roads Agency has now completed emergency reconstruction work on Cork Avenue Bridge in Ferndale, Randburg. The R7.3 million reconstruction of the bridge forms part of JRA’s city-wide repair and rehabilitation of stormwater drainage systems to ensure safe and accessible roads and related infrastructure.

The low-lying bridge over the Klein Jukskei River was destroyed in January during heavy rainfall and flashes flooding and was declared unsafe for public.

“To ensure public safety, risk mitigation strategies were implemented to swiftly address the collapsing Cork Avenue Bridge. Following a flood impact assessment, the bridge’s demolition and reconstruction was prioritised at R7.3 million. The project was embarked upon in early February and has taken six months to complete,” said Member of the Mayoral Committee for Transport, Councillor Nonhlanhla Makhuba.

Makhuba said the existing sewerline and other services were severely exposed due to excessive erosion caused by the failure of the stream crossing. As part of the reconstruction, a 3 m high gabion wall was established on either side of Cork Avenue Bridge’s stormwater inlet and outlet to support increased water volumes. A 12 m gabion mattress has also been installed, de-siltation has been carried out, and rubble and debris has been removed.

Guardrails and culverts have also been replaced and JRA has increased the vegetation on the banks to address soil erosion. The retaining walls have been reconstructed and road signs swept away by the stormwater have been replaced.