Tafelkop Bridge gets an upgrade

Tafelkop

Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality (EMLM), together with the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL), have committed to upgrade conditions of the steel Armco culverts on the R574 Road at the bridge in Tafelkop Village outside Groblersdal.

This is after several members of the public raised concerns of the poor conditions of the culverts that were damaged during accidents.

Tsakane Mathebula, SANRAL Design and Construction Manager in Northern Region, said in February 2022, the agency has dispatched experts from its consulting engineers appointed to assess general bridges and culverts contract at Tafelkop and they carried out a detailed inspection.

“SANRAL has issued the appointed consultants with instructions to carry on with the design of the remedial measures as quickly as possible. The very high fills, the difficult nature of the site and the size of the culverts means that the repair works must be carried out by properly experienced and qualified contractors and tenders will need to be called for this work,” she said.

Mathebula said SANRAL is aware that this problem may be causing some members of the community some anxiety, however, they assure the public that they are working on making the culverts and the roadway safe as quickly as possible.

“Also, it is worth mentioning that our Routine Road Maintenance consultants for this route are inspecting the site regularly to pick up any hint of a deterioration in the roadway structure. At this moment, it is our engineering opinion that we do not need to close off the road, while our design and tender processes are underway. Unfortunately, such is the location of the culverts that to close off the road would cause severe traffic disruption to residents and motorists alike, as this is a very busy road and there is no obvious alternative route that can be used as a bypass,” said Mathebula.

EMLM Spokesperson, Simon Makua, said the designs for strengthening the culverts has been completed and they have issued the tender documents to pre-qualified and experienced contractors to submit bids.

“The tender opened on 30 September and closed on 25 October 2022. We are hopeful that a contractor can be appointed within one calendar month but we will probably only be able to start with our pre-construction mobilisation mid-January 2023, after the December builder’s break,” he said.