The South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited (Sanral) is planning a major upgrade of the N1 between Worcester East and Glen Heatlie in the Western Cape.
Sanral recently held an information session in Worcester as part of its stakeholder engagement priorities for the planned upgrade and capacity improvement of the stretch of freeway.
Sanral said it was envisaged that the upgrade would result in the development of additional lanes to increase capacity and tie in with the long-term dual carriageway vision towards Laingsburg.
The project is currently in the preliminary design phase, with engineers busy considering the design options to best serve road users.
“We specifically wanted to ensure we reached the relevant and affected stakeholders in terms of the necessary investigations for the design development. This involves surveys and soil sampling that need to happen for us to complete the preliminary designs,” said David Le Cordeur, Sanral project manager in the Western Region.
“The investigations are likely to require access to private land on the farms adjacent to the road reserve.”
He added that Sanral had introduced the project and its various design options to local stakeholders in what would be the first of a series of stakeholder engagements in line with the project timeline.
It is envisaged that the detailed design will be completed in 2024.
Breede Valley Municipality director of strategic support services, Raymond Esau, welcomed the announcement of the freeway upgrade project. “This project brings good news to our people, and we are happy that Sanral is recognising the importance of stakeholder engagement right at the start of the process.
“Our Board has publicly committed that no Sanral project will commence without engaging the relevant stakeholders in the communities affected by infrastructure development upgrades, and we intend to honour that commitment,” said Esau.
Sanral western region manager, Randall Cable, said further stakeholder engagement meetings would take place as the project unfolded.
“Once we get into the construction phase, we will again engage the community to talk about project participation opportunities for local labour and SMMEs. For now, our focus is on getting the designs approved so we can begin with this much-needed upgrade of the N1,” Cable said.
