The construction of wind farms in the Eastern Cape is causing havoc on some of the Eastern Cape roads, according to an advisory from the South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited (Sanral).
“Each wind turbine will require up to 10 abnormal load convoys to be transported from Port Elizabeth to the wind farms throughout the province. A wind farm, typically, consists of 60 turbines,” says Sanral.
The transportation of these abnormal loads, initially five per day and increasing to 10 per day, is in full swing. “This will mean major traffic delays. Impacted routes will be Port Elizabeth – Cradock – Queenstown - N6 - R56 –Molteno, as well as Port Elizabeth – Cradock – Hofmeyer – Steynsburg – Molteno. Routes with lesser delays are between Port Elizabeth and Humansdorp. This is expected to continue up to early 2014.”
Sanral has requested from the hauliers that during the transportation of these loads, road users do not have to queue for longer than 1km in 6-vehicle queues.
It has also requested that a road user should not be held up for longer than 5km without being provided the opportunity to overtake the abnormal load convoy.
The transportation of the extremely long loads will result in daily road closures of roughly 30 minutes of the Olifantskop Pass on the N10 between Paterson and Cookhouse, between 9h00 and 11h00.
Road users who require more information can contact the Sanral Southern Region office at 041-398 3200
