R21 Highway falling apart ...

[PsyPhin]

[JK1]

Wow. A few harsh words spoken here. I trust that all the harsh comments are from people who knows this particular Industry in great detail and have all the inside information.

I have no sides here but please also consider the following which has to play a roll in my humble opinion. I also only know so much about road construction so please take it as a disclaimer.

Any work on a N (this includes the R21) route has SANRAL as the client. Therefore SANRAL has to sign off on the design. Does not matter who's design it is.

Comparing the R21 to other routes.

Volume of daily traffic.
Type of traffic.
What is underneath the top layer in terms of support and adhesion?

Back to the R21.

Count the vehicles per lane and classify them in terms of type and weight.

Slow lane has traffic. Fast lane has much more traffic than the slow lane and the other 2 in between.

Fast lane mostly less than 3 ton per vehicle. The other 3 lanes up to 56 tons overall weight.

R21 has more heavy vehicles IMO than the N1 west. Most heavy traffic comes via the N3 then onto R21 and then north.

N1 PTA to JHB is concrete underneath with an asphalt overlay.

The first 3 lanes are taking a hammering but the fast lane has now also joined the "club".

A road's top surface only last that long.

I do believe there is an adhesion problem between the top layer and those below on the R21.

I could be wrong but I don't remember the top layer being removed before the new layer's were placed. (SANRAL spec and sign off?)

I believe a big part of the problem are also caused by heavy trucks. They no longer stay left but occupy 3 lanes. (Diesel and oil dripping are known tar destroyers).

So I think the spec was perhaps not good enough. The heavy trucks must also take a lot of the blame.

Where is our Railways?

My 2c.

Johan

[JacquesJeep]

[QUOTE=Tom13;5140080]I also travelled it last night and got a ping from a stone on the side of my car. No Estee, the top layer is coming away bit by bit. I really feel sorry for my platkar travelling that road.

What did South Africa have before gravel roads - tarred roads, sad but true.

Travel that road regularly by bike it is not a nice road, if you are in a vehicle and pick up a stone it is very different from being on a bike......

[280iNyati]

Jacques,

I can only assume that the worst section is between Olifantsfontein and Pomona

[nicor]

3x well-known and established Construction Companies constructed the R21 GFIP sections as per an approved design done by a Consulting Engineering Firm and the QA process was run as per ISO

And they all received huge fines for their efforts if memory serves me right. A pity that the directors and people in charge of this dishonesty didn't go to jail.
I have lost several windscreens and driving light lenses on the R21. Every time I have windscreen replaced it is the first question I get asked - Happened o the R21?

[Taaier]

The road was fixed for the 2010 soccer World Cup, as part of the window- dressing exercise, like fancy stadiums, Gautrain, etc.
The road was properly fixed, but that missing link, the "BIG M" now comes to play, no MAINTENANCE since 2010. Sounds familiar? Maybe we should get another WC, not sure if our countries' finance will survive this one.

[Andre N]

Jacques,

I can only assume that the worst section is between Olifantsfontein and Pomona

No, The Worst bit is between Pomona and the Airport.
There I just drive way over as far left as possible and hope for the best.

[Retsrov]

I had just got my GV and picked up a nasty crack on that stretch before POMONA road.

The surface of that road is really bad.

[JacquesJeep]

No, The Worst bit is between Pomona and the Airport.
There I just drive way over as far left as possible and hope for the best.
Worst stretch is from Serengeti to Airport if you are behind a vehicle it gets very interesting......

[Rassie3000]

https://topauto.co.za/news/91456/r30...tambo-airport/

[mullerza]

lets not forget the sinkhole on the northbound section that has not been fixed in more than 2 years

I hate that highway

[Optimus-Prime]

https://topauto.co.za/news/91456/r30...tambo-airport/

I hope they employ proper engineers this time round....!

[Agteros]

I hope they employ proper engineers this time round....!

I see the head of SANRAL northern region name is Progress Hlalha so things should go well.

[Henkus]

Laat ek niks sê oor wie aangestel is oor die redo volgens daai artikel nie.

[280iNyati]

It seems that there are a few gentlemen who are hell-bent on implying that the appointed Consulting Engineers in the past and the present, were and are incompetent and/or corrupt.

SANRAL is an SOE and the Client, and as such makes the final decision regarding the scope of works.

[Rainier Vermaak]

It seems that there are a few gentlemen who are hell-bent on implying that the appointed Consulting Engineers in the past and the present, were and are incompetent and/or corrupt.

SANRAL is an SOE and the Client, and as such makes the final decision regarding the scope of works.

Sommige mense is mos groter en sterker as The Mountain op die internet.

Ek sal geld betaal om vir OP te sien jou beledig in persoon. Baie geld...

[280iNyati]

But what ticked me off this morning, was a news item that SANRAL did not spend 50% of their allocated budget for road maintenance. The idiocy of this government and its agents is unbelievable... !

This statement alone should have answered most of the comments on this discussion

[280iNyati]

Sommige mense is mos groter en sterker as The Mountain op die internet.

Ek sal geld betaal om vir OP te sien jou beledig in persoon. Baie geld...

Jy skuld my 'n keyboard 🤣

[Optimus-Prime]

OK, let's start over. My initial post was about the condition of the R21 that is busy disintegrating. I drive this road daily, and I can see how the surface of the road deteriorate almost day to day. On some places this is so bad that it pose a real danger. I have seen cars swerve and nearly caused an accident, just to avoid pieces of tarmac coming loose, and I pick up stone chips weekly, so much so that I'm on my third windscreen in 2 years !

I do not use my motorcycle any more on this road because it is a scary experience navigating the ditches..!

The fact that it is just a 20 or 30 km stretch of the R21 that is affected, suggest that it is not just a lack of maintenance, but some other reason that just affect that certain part of the road. I agree, nothing will last without maintenance, but the rest of the R21 doesn't suffer the same amount of degradation and it carries the same volume of traffic.

But if you look at the affected stretch of road, you can see the paint markings of the original road surface, which suggest that they haven't milled the previous top layer to ensure proper adhesion of the friction course or whatever they call it. It is this top layer that is starting to crumble and detach itself. Surely this cannot be standard practice on a road that carries this volume of traffic ?

Regarding the corruption and collusion of the the companies involved with the construction of the GFIP, it is a fact that 15 construction companies, including M & R where fined a collective R1,47 Billion. 21 other firms submitted applications to the Competition Commission and Competition Tribunal involving R47 Billion. So you may understand my misgivings about the engineering and construction industry...

Lastly, I didn't insult anybody...until I was called a troll and a 4 minute internet engineer that must bow to the superior knowledge of people that studied for 4 years...well, I did that as well, and it doesn't elevate me to the entrance of heaven !

My question remains, and I'm genuinely curious, is it just lack of maintenance or is that stretch of road badly constructed ?

[Graham]

Lastly, I didn't insult anybody...until I was called a troll and a 4 minute internet engineer that must bow to the superior knowledge of people that studied for 4 years...well, I did that as well, and it doesn't elevate me to the entrance of heaven !

We've seen the road repair buggerups over and over again, so its not totally absurd to assume that this road maintenance was not the same I think.
A current example is the road upgrade of the extension of Beyers Naude, all of a sudden all of the machinery has been moved off site, and its left with piles of sand and some indications of new lanes. Surely that wasnt put in their little gantt chart? Or maybe it was if they're only studying for 4 years?