Fw: Traffic problems along Gatesville and Quarterdeck Roads due to rebuilding of Main Road
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Herberts
Apr 2, 2012, 6:24:52 AM4/2/12
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FYI received yesterday. I have written to
Kim Diedricks at Chand - copy follows
Steve
----- Original Message -----
From: Roelf
Jansen
Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2012 11:15 PM
Subject: Fwd: Traffic problems along Gatesville and Quarterdeck
Roads due to rebuilding of Main Road
Since Barrie answered your queries in detail (his email is included below) I'll only responded briefly.
As far as the extension of the one-way system is concerned Newsletter 23 makes it clear that this was only a possibility the road team asked a traffic specialist to investigate.
However, the traffic specialist found that a two-way system would allow for "much greater flexibility in overall traffic management by allowing two alternative routes for northbound traffic."
It is therefore unlikely that the road team will suggest keeping Main Rd one-way. Of course our committee will strongly oppose such a suggestion in the unlikely case of it arising.
Your questions regarding emergency access & pavement by-laws are best put to the city via Chand Environmental since the city's road engineers & town planners will be able to answer these questions knowledgably.
Lastly, if you want a public meeting to debate these issues such a framework is already in place. Chand Environmental are employed by the City of Cape Town to ensure communication between the road team and residents.
As part of their mandate Chand have been holding regular meetings since the start of roadworks. In fact, in your email you quoted from the minutes of the 23rd such a meeting they've held.
Should you require a meeting to address your concerns, Chand have proven themselves highly capable to perform such a task.
I would urge any affected party to attend these informative meetings. Please contact Kim Diedericks for further information: k...@chand.co.za
Regards
Roelf
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: B Gasson <gas...@sybaweb.co.za>
Date: Sat, Mar 31, 2012 at 12:35 PM
Hi Steve
As a committee member I'd like to respond to some of your points.
1. Emergency: If an ambulance or fire engine needed to get access to a property bordering a blocked Gatesville Road they could do so by using Duignam Road onto which all the upper properties back and to which most of have access. The few on the lower side from Chartfield northwards would have to be accessed on foot via Belmont Rd or in the case of fire by connected hoses - as was done in the case of the fire in my house where the nearest water point they could find was opposite Hillrise Road and about 100m of hose was needed to reach the house. It's not a perfect solution but it would work.
2. Bye-law: I have no knowledge about this one.
3. Two-way Main Rd traffic: I believe we all understand and firmly expect that it is intended to open Main Rd from the Clairvaux Rd junction to two-way traffic from July. This was what was said at the Liaison Committee meeting. Chand may have misinterpreted this and it needs to be corrected by the Council.
4. Regarding the committee's views about blocking northbound traffic at Quarterdeck Rd: some KB members favoured blocking off and some didn't; some St J members favoured blocking off and some didn't. The committee views were not divided along geographical lines relating to convenience (St J) or inconvenience (KB). Those who didn't favour blocking off were balancing the demonstrated mitigating effects on speeding and danger that the speed humps and 3-ton limit had achieved with the advantages to traffic from the south heading towards the Cape Flats. The temporary nature of the situation also weighed in its favour, in their view.
Kalk Bay - St James is not an island and, in my view at least, a Ratepayers Association while seeing to the needs of the local community has to keep in mind the larger context and act responsibly towards both the larger community and the one it represents. It's always a balancing act involving the view 'from the inside' and the view 'from the outside'. In the particular case of the 'rat-run' the attempt is to balance community adaptation and traffic mitigation for a limited period of time.
5. I recommended that vehicle counters be put in so that we would have hard facts about 24-hour flow patterns. We don't have these, and it is common practice to get such data. Analysis will show the pattern of peaks and troughs as well as the volumes at particular times, and these will need to be studied and interpreted for any further insights they may provide, particularly about the peaks. Further mitigating measures might be suggested. Equally, blocking off at Quarterdeck Rd might be suggested. It wlll be instructive to compare the school holiday pattern with the post-Easter pattern - although this was not the intention when the counters were put in.
Before the counters were in place I did a visual count on Friday 23 March between 16h35 and 18h35 at the Anderson - Gatesville junction. This showed the following: 211 cars moved north along Gatesville during the first hour and 220 during the second; they were usually in platoons of 6 - 10 with gaps of up to 60 seconds between them; the majority of drivers ignored the stop sign at the bottom of Anderson but negotiated the speed humps very carefully and drove slowly between them; taxis were not a problem as being heavily laden they negotiated the humps even more carefully; about 4 motor-bikes / hour took this route; there was the occasional cowboy in a hurry with sound system on high and noisy exhaust; about 6 cars / hour moved south along Gatesville. Apart from the ignoring of the stop sign the overall impression was one of calm good behaviour and I thought there was little danger in the situation.
That's it.
Regards - Barrie.
On 30 Mar 2012, at 9:05 AM, Herberts wrote:
Dear Roelf,
Although not a resident of Gatesville or Quarterdeck Roads, you have copied me in on this so I have put my comments into your mail below. I am copying this to the Committee and to the people who added their names to the petition. It would be prudent for the committee to hold a public meeting where this can be debated. It would be better to do this sooner rather than later. Before adding notes to your mail in blue below, there other issues which need to be considered
1) No one has yet advised on what would happen in an emergency - an accident half way down Gatesville say, would mean a blockage of traffic and no emergency access
2) I believe there is a bye law about the requirement for pavements in urban areas. If this is correct what is the position on the roads where there are no pavements?
3) You have not commented on the query I raised about the possibility of the Main Road remaining one way even after work to Clairvaux Road is complete. I pointed out that this is mentioned in the last Chand report. I assume from this it contemplates the current situation continuing for some considerable time beyond the projected date in June when work is completed to Clairvaux Road. Please clarify this - it's obviously of vital interest.
As I said above - see my notes in blue below
Regards
Steve
From: B Gasson <gas...@sybaweb.co.za>
Date: Sat, Mar 31, 2012 at 12:35 PM
Hi Steve
As a committee member I'd like to respond to some of your points.
1. Emergency: If an ambulance or fire engine needed to get access to a property bordering a blocked Gatesville Road they could do so by using Duignam Road onto which all the upper properties back and to which most of have access. The few on the lower side from Chartfield northwards would have to be accessed on foot via Belmont Rd or in the case of fire by connected hoses - as was done in the case of the fire in my house where the nearest water point they could find was opposite Hillrise Road and about 100m of hose was needed to reach the house. It's not a perfect solution but it would work.
2. Bye-law: I have no knowledge about this one.
3. Two-way Main Rd traffic: I believe we all understand and firmly expect that it is intended to open Main Rd from the Clairvaux Rd junction to two-way traffic from July. This was what was said at the Liaison Committee meeting. Chand may have misinterpreted this and it needs to be corrected by the Council.
4. Regarding the committee's views about blocking northbound traffic at Quarterdeck Rd: some KB members favoured blocking off and some didn't; some St J members favoured blocking off and some didn't. The committee views were not divided along geographical lines relating to convenience (St J) or inconvenience (KB). Those who didn't favour blocking off were balancing the demonstrated mitigating effects on speeding and danger that the speed humps and 3-ton limit had achieved with the advantages to traffic from the south heading towards the Cape Flats. The temporary nature of the situation also weighed in its favour, in their view.
Kalk Bay - St James is not an island and, in my view at least, a Ratepayers Association while seeing to the needs of the local community has to keep in mind the larger context and act responsibly towards both the larger community and the one it represents. It's always a balancing act involving the view 'from the inside' and the view 'from the outside'. In the particular case of the 'rat-run' the attempt is to balance community adaptation and traffic mitigation for a limited period of time.
5. I recommended that vehicle counters be put in so that we would have hard facts about 24-hour flow patterns. We don't have these, and it is common practice to get such data. Analysis will show the pattern of peaks and troughs as well as the volumes at particular times, and these will need to be studied and interpreted for any further insights they may provide, particularly about the peaks. Further mitigating measures might be suggested. Equally, blocking off at Quarterdeck Rd might be suggested. It wlll be instructive to compare the school holiday pattern with the post-Easter pattern - although this was not the intention when the counters were put in.
Before the counters were in place I did a visual count on Friday 23 March between 16h35 and 18h35 at the Anderson - Gatesville junction. This showed the following: 211 cars moved north along Gatesville during the first hour and 220 during the second; they were usually in platoons of 6 - 10 with gaps of up to 60 seconds between them; the majority of drivers ignored the stop sign at the bottom of Anderson but negotiated the speed humps very carefully and drove slowly between them; taxis were not a problem as being heavily laden they negotiated the humps even more carefully; about 4 motor-bikes / hour took this route; there was the occasional cowboy in a hurry with sound system on high and noisy exhaust; about 6 cars / hour moved south along Gatesville. Apart from the ignoring of the stop sign the overall impression was one of calm good behaviour and I thought there was little danger in the situation.
That's it.
Regards - Barrie.
On 30 Mar 2012, at 9:05 AM, Herberts wrote:
Dear Roelf,
Although not a resident of Gatesville or Quarterdeck Roads, you have copied me in on this so I have put my comments into your mail below. I am copying this to the Committee and to the people who added their names to the petition. It would be prudent for the committee to hold a public meeting where this can be debated. It would be better to do this sooner rather than later. Before adding notes to your mail in blue below, there other issues which need to be considered
1) No one has yet advised on what would happen in an emergency - an accident half way down Gatesville say, would mean a blockage of traffic and no emergency access
2) I believe there is a bye law about the requirement for pavements in urban areas. If this is correct what is the position on the roads where there are no pavements?
3) You have not commented on the query I raised about the possibility of the Main Road remaining one way even after work to Clairvaux Road is complete. I pointed out that this is mentioned in the last Chand report. I assume from this it contemplates the current situation continuing for some considerable time beyond the projected date in June when work is completed to Clairvaux Road. Please clarify this - it's obviously of vital interest.
As I said above - see my notes in blue below
Regards
Steve
----- Original Message -----
From: Roelf Jansen
Dear residents along Gatesville and Quarterdeck Roads
Our committee is concerned about the distress of local residents due to the excessive traffic using Gatesville and Quarterdeck Roads due to the rebuilding of Main Rd.
Our committee discussed the problem at length at our last monthly meeting. We then voted on the most practical solution to the problem, namely the blocking off of the Muizenberg-bound lane of Main Rd on the Muizenberg side of Quarterdeck Rd.
The voting result was an equal split between yes and no.
Those in favour felt that the proposal would ensure safety of the residents along the route and return peace to the neighbourhood, whilst those in opposition felt that the proposal would greatly inconvenience St James residents and commuters from the south in general. While I can understand members of the Committee wanting to support the interest of St James residents and ratepayers (whom you represent) I can't understand why these committee members would support 'commuters from the south' who they don't represent.
It was also argued that the speed humps have succeeded in bringing down the vehicle speeds and that the remaining problem is that of the sheer volume of traffic.
We have therefore decided to obtain more facts to judge the issue on. We requested the city to do a traffic count of the number of vehicles going northbound on Main Rd past the Quarterdeck intersection. The city accepted this request and put electronic counters in place from which we should receive the results shortly. Paul Booth has already done a traffic count as you know. Any count done right now will almost certainly be distorted because it is the school holidays - one would expect traffic to be less until after 10th April
Should the number of vehicles be shown to be excessive ( how will this be defined - and as has been said it is not only volume, it is the danger posed by the volume of cars) or it be shown that dangerous speeding still occurs our committee will resume our discussion and, if necessary, endorse the proposed closure to the City of Cape Town.
Best regards
Roelf Jansen
Chairman
Kalk Bay & St James Residents & Ratepayers Assocation
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Herberts
Apr 2, 2012, 6:43:00 AM4/2/12
to roadsp...@googlegroups.com
Email to Kim re a public meeting - see
below. It may help if you write to her yourself calling for a meeting
k...@chand.co.za
Best
Steve
----- Original Message -----
From: Herberts
To: Kim
Diedricks
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2012 12:23 PM
Subject: Fw: Traffic problems along Gatesville and Quarterdeck Roads
due to rebuilding of Main Road
Dear Kim
As you will have seen from email traffic
there are strong feelings regarding this issue. I don't know when the next
public meeting is scheduled but several of the affected parties have requested a
public discussion on this issue as soon as possible. I can ask them to mail you
directly with their requests for a meeting if necessary.
Below are reports from residents in
Gatesville Road that I've been sent. They are of course anecdotal and some may
be unrelated to the present traffic flow system, but they do demonstrate the
potential for accidents in my view. I can tell you from my own point of view
that as an example on Sunday 11th March I was heading south at the bottom of
Gatesville when I noticed cars coming the other way. I pulled over and stopped.
As I did so a Range Rover passed me. I shouted that there were cars coming the
other way. He swore violently at me, accelerated up Gatesville, mounted the
right pavement and edged past the oncoming cars. It is this anger and road rage,
combined with dangerous driving that's going to get someone hurt. It is not an
isolated incident.
I look forward to hearing from you re a
meeting.
Best
Steve Herbert
Hi All
Thank you for your efforts thus far - we greatly appreciate it.
Thought we'd share x2 examples of how the traffic flow through Gatesville
road has impacted us....
Our car was bashed during 4-5pm "rush hour" on the corner of
Gatesville/Belmont rd's in Feb by a council worker in a big hurry cutting the
corner.
The wall was reversed into last week on Mon 26th March between 08:30-09:00
by someone trying to do a three point turn, apparently...
Regards
George/Emma
Hi SteveThank you for your ongoing efforts. Barrie mentions that 3t trucks don't use the road. Maybe not, but 5t to 6t trucks regularly do! We are also rudely awakened at about 5.00am every morning to the truck noisily (everything in it crashing) going over the traffic calmers, so it is difficult to be rational about this problem when we are sleep deprived. It is not only the taxis (boom boxes) that are guilty of the cacophony. Our windows and doors frequently vibrate to the sound systems of the bass booster freaks passing our home. We witness road rage regularly when north and south bound traffic is snarled up. The pavement edge at the stormwater drain near Ponder Road steps has been demolished yet again.Our concern is that Chand's timetable may be extended beyond June 2012 as has happened already on this contract.RegardsGerald and Pari----- Original Message -----From: Cara DowlingSent: Sunday, April 01, 2012 4:58 PMSubject: Re: Traffic problems along Gatesville and Quarterdeck Roads due to rebuilding of Main RoadAlmost had toes ridden over this afternoon, by 5 (northbound) cars trying to get past 2 other cars heading south on Gatesville Rd.Cara
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