MOSSEL BAY NEWS -  The end of Louis Fourie Road’s roadworks is in sight.

“Works are on track and expected to be completed by the end of August 2026,” said the Western Cape Department of Infrastructure (DoI) in its latest update on Tuesday 10 March.

At R540m, this project is the largest provincial government investment in road infrastructure in the Garden Route District, the DoI said. 

The project entails the upgrading of just over 3km of road from a single carriageway to a dual carriageway, including the upgrading of intersections, constructing a central median, realigning and upgrading the Langeberg Mall access road, rebuilding the on- and offramps to the N2, constructing a new bridge over the Blinde River, constructing a pedestrian walkway from Waboom Road to Sonskynvallei, a new bidirectional road under the rail bridge on Garret Street, and building a new road to link Garret Street with Gericke Street.

Routine maintenance work on the existing surfacing either side of the upgrade for about 6km is also being undertaken.

Langeberg Mall

“The upgrade project has reached the stage at which additional inconvenience, particularly at the Langeberg Mall entrance, will unfortunately be experienced by road users over the coming months. If all goes according to plan, relief (while not fully) should be felt by the end of March at this point,” said Jandré Bakker, the DoI’s director of operational support.

A section of Louis Fourie Road with the Langeberg Mall in the background. Photo: Linzetta Calitz 

“The project team is making all efforts to open additional lanes before the Easter weekend. Accommodating traffic at the Langeberg Mall intersection was always going to be one of the most critical pain points for road users, because of the significant realignment work and pavement layer reconstruction that has to be undertaken here.

“One of the more notable reasons for inconvenience and delays at this intersection is the limited available road width for right-turning movements in the vicinity of the new circle and the mall entrance. 

“We can confirm that the current traffic signal configuration is at its most optimal for this stage of construction. Observations have, however, indicated that a large number of the delays are due to poor driver behaviour, which includes blocking of the intersection to gain an advantage over other motorists, which adds to the challenge.”

Teams works on Louis Fourie Road between KFC and Shell Voorbaai. Photo: Linzetta Calitz

Bakker said the work on the intersection at the mall will continue until the end of March. Traffic flow will then improve as two lanes will be available on the southbound leg, and the outbound carriageway towards Aalwyndal will also be opened to traffic.

Ongoing and still to come

Bakker said access to Via Appie Street is scheduled for reconstruction from 7 April for a period of two weeks, weather permitting. Bally Crescent and/or Watson Avenue can be used as alternative accesses where pointsmen will be posted. The final surfacing layer is also being paved at the moment, which may cause short-term (a day or so) disruptions at localised intersections.

“Further key activities currently under way include the resurfacing of the road between Voorbaai and Hartenbos, as well as the final road marking of all completed road surfaces. 

Final surfacing of the new inland-side carriageway is progressing well. Photo: DoI

“The resurfacing of the section between Voorbaai and Marsh Street is scheduled to start after the Easter weekend. If all goes according to plan, both carriageways will be opened to traffic between The Lofts and Bally Crescent (Suzuki) before the Easter weekend. 

“The final surfacing layer on this section of road will be paved in half widths during the next month,” said Bakker.

Tertuis Simmers, the Provincial Minister of Infrastructure, said: “According to the latest project programme, the planned progress should be at 89% complete, and we are currently at 85%. 

“I am pleased to report that good progress is being made on the Blinde River Bridge as well as the pipe-jacking site at the George Road intersection where we are increasing stormwater capacity in this area. 

The seaside of the Blinde River Bridge is complete and already showing good signs of embankment grass establishment and stream rehabilitation. Photo: DoI

“While I have noted road user frustration with the ongoing roadworks, we have reached a stage at which the general public are also seeing visible progress daily after having endured many obstacles early on during construction, namely underground services that had not been accurately mapped, and replacing of ageing infrastructure to avoid building a new road over infrastructure that would need to be replaced within a few years,” Simmers said.

“To the last report date, which is the end of February, the project had created 49 341 person-days of work allocated to targeted labour against a contract target of 58 000 person-days. 

“This translates to 306 work opportunities created against a contract target of 250. 

“To date, more than R89 million of the contract spending was on targeted enterprises that exceeded the contract target of R85 million significantly. Through the project we invested over R12 million on procurement from local enterprises. A total of R13 million has been spent on emerging contractor development, and I look forward to seeing these numbers grow even more towards the completion of the project,” he added.

“We are well aware of the inconvenience of the roadworks to the travelling public, both local road users and holiday makers to Mossel Bay. We remain confident that the long-term benefit of this road upgrade will outweigh the short-term inconvenience to road users and that the investment in infrastructure will unlock economic opportunities in Mossel Bay and surrounds,” Simmers concluded. 

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