ANGELIQUE SERRAO
LARGE chunks of Gauteng’s brand-new freeway system are warping so badly, they will have to be cut up and relaid.
Motorists who have travelled along the N1 North between the Beyers Naudé and Malibongwe off-ramps may have noticed the yellow line on the left-hand lane looking strange.
Instead of a flat road with a straight line, vehicles move along a bumpy, uneven surface and the yellow line curves so dramatically, it looks like a child was given a yellow crayon and drew loopy lines on the side of the road.
The affected sections are part of the SA National Roads Agency Ltd’s R20 billion toll road network, which will see average motorists paying 40c/km to use.
Two independent sources who work in construction told The Star that Sanral was aware there was a problem with the construction of the road, and that there was a dispute between the contractor and the agency about who would pay to fix the road.
The sources said the problem was at three different sections, including between the Rivonia off-ramp and Brakfontein, although it was most noticeable between the Beyers Naudé and Rivonia off-ramps on the N1.
The Star drove along the road this week, and the skew lines and warping road extended for long sections, over a distance of 12km. The problem along the southbound section was not as severe, but the warping is beginning there as well.
Sanral said the road was completed in May 2010 – just over a year ago.
WBHO, the construction company that worked on sections of the road, refused to comment on the matter.