Construction of the traffic circle at the Cradock Road, Worcester and Somerset Streets intersection is taking shape, although work has slowed down this week due to the rainy conditions as well as the circle itself being re-designed.
Construction of the traffic circle at the Cradock Road, Worcester and Somerset Streets intersection is taking shape, although work has slowed down this week due to the rainy conditions as well as the circle itself being re-designed.
When Grocott’s Mail vistited the circle this week, is was quite obvious that the circle was lopsided. Oldo Rudolecky of Aurecon Consulting Engineers said the circle is not skew but it may look that way because it is built on an incline. However, Rudolecky said that the circle had been re-designed “so now its coming right”.
A contractor on site, who did not want to be named, said that while the circle was built higher on Cradock Road side than Somerset Street side, he said this should be the other way round and they were waiting for the updated plans before work on the circle continued.
Construction of the R3.5-million traffic circle is funded by the provincial Department of Roads and Transport as the road is part of a provincial road through Grahamstown that leads to other towns and beyond.
The project arose out of an initiative from St Andrew’s College two years ago to look at how the safety of pedestrians could be improved.
Once completed, the circle with have two vehicle lanes and pavements will also be constructed for pedestrians. Meanwhile, a number of signs in the area of the circle have gone missing.
These include a 40km and a 30km sign as well as a temporary end of construction sign and a keep right arrow.
It is believed that the traffic department are in possession of photographs of people in a bakkie trying to uproot one of the stop signs in the vicinity of the circle and believe this group are involved in having stolen the missing signs.
