Department Spending Millions to Improve Road Infrastructure

The Department of Transport and Public Works and the Plettenberg Bay Municipality opened two stretches of resurfaced roads outside the town on 21 May 2013.

The newly rehabilitated Piesang Valley and Robberg Roads were opened by the Executive Manager of the Department’s Roads and Transport Management, Mr Hannes Mouton and the Executive Mayor of Bitou Municipality, Mr Memory Booysen.

Project Fact Sheet:

• Total cost of the project was R67 million.
• Between 100 and 120 people worked on the project during the construction period.
• The project started in November 2011.
• The scope included the upgrade of the Piesang Valley and Robberg Roads.
• Approximately 10.6 km of road was rehabilitated.
• The road was built in 1935 and surfaced for the first time in 1972/3.
• The last upgrade took place in 1981.
• The road was severely distressed and showed failure in areas (The roads started to crack and needed a lot of patching).
• Rehabilitation included resurfacing of the road.
• The roads were widened (new 3.4 metre lane), a 0.9 metre surfaced shoulder and 0.6 metre gravel shoulder.
• Road safety was improved through the construction of two new climbing lanes on both Piesang Valley and Robberg Roads.
• Selected intersection improvements were included.
• New guardrails were installed.
• Drainage was improved.
• Improvements were made to concrete line and open drains.
• Piesang Valley Road is one of the main roads between N2 and Plettenberg Bay.
• Robberg Road connects the town and the small airport outside Plettenberg Bay.
• Piesang Valley road carries 4 500 vehicles daily in both directions. Heavy vehicles make up 7% of the traffic.
• The Robberg Road carries 2 800 vehicles daily in both directions. Heavy vehicles make up 10% of the traffic.
• It is estimated R5 million of the contract value was spent on local suppliers and sub-contractors.
• The main contractor was Vusela Construction and the consulting engineer was Gibb Consulting Engineers.