Recently, the City of Cape Town partnered with University of Cape Town engineering students to find “creative ways to complete” the highways.

“What we’re asking them to do is to assess whether [we should] complete them, though we’re strongly of the view that there’s no need,” said Brett Herron, the city’s mayoral committee member responsible for roads and transport.

Transport MEC Robin Carlisle previously said he would not give the green light on the completion of the highways.

His head of ministry, Hector Elliott, said tunnelling underneath the current site of the highways was impractical.

“You tunnel there and it’s going to be hugely expensive to waterproof any kind of tunnel because it’s reclaimed land which is below sea level,” said Elliott.

The construction of the highways on the city’s foreshore was abandoned in 1977 after soaring costs.

Herron said completing them today would cost in the region of R2 billion – and the roads, if finished, would disconnect the city centre from Table Bay.

In the past, the public was asked to give proposals on the future uses of the highways.

Some of the suggestions were to turn them into waterfalls or memorial gardens, or use them for urban farming projects.

Source: timeslive