The City of Cape Town says it will not complete the highway infrastructure around the city for many years and will invest whatever money it has in improving the public transport infrastructure instead.

Work on the Eastern and Western Boulevard overhead roads stopped years ago and the council now has no intention of completing these roads according to Robin Carlisle, MEC for public works and transport.

The completion of the roads network would cost the province at least R2,5-billion and he says that these funds are simply not available and anyway there is little point in improving the freeways when the public transport system remains inadequate.

He says that no new roads will be built for private cars and the only solution to Cape Town’s congestion – particularly in the central business district – is to get more people using public transport facilities and taking cars off the roads.

The original concept for the Eastern Boulevard was approved in the 1960s when an elevated freeway was to be built along the Foreshore as part of a ring-road surrounding the city. The project was halted in 1977 and the incomplete bridge has stood there since then.

In September last year, Andrew Borraine, chief executive of the Cape Town Partnership called for the incomplete section of highway to be demolished. He said that the area they occupied was a “barren urban wasteland” and represented a huge waste of space for the Foreshore area.

He says that the land could be used for a project such as the urban regeneration project, housing and other mixed-use projects that would provide the city with additional accommodation. 

Readers' Comments Have a comment about this article? Email us now.

The highways are used regularly by the film industry and make a lot of money for CT – the land is too close to the main highway for use as residential space. - Carryn

Does this mean that the R300 extension (to Melkbos and Muizenberg) will also be put on hold indefinitely?

Personally something that I will be more than happy with as I do not see the need right now for this extension and it will only be a thorn in the side for those of us living near the proposed extension areas.

I would much rather see investment into a GOOD public transport system from and between all suburbs, as well as continued upkeep of the current roads, instead of wasting millions on extensions that would be totally unnecessary right now. - Nicky