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Free bus services into Sandton to help cope with bridge collapse

After the horrific bridge collapse on Johannesburg’s M1 highway yesterday, the City of Johannesburg has implemented a contingency plan to alleviate the traffic pressure that will be putting further strain on Sandton’s roads.

With the EcoMobility Festival currently underway in Sandton, the road closures for the festival added more chaos to the traffic, as motorists needed to use alternative routes to get home.

As a result, Johannesburg mayor Parks Tau revealed a number of actions that the City is taking to make people’s morning commute as pain-free as possible.

He announced that West road (in Sandton) will be opened and the traffic lights on Maude road will be switched on, and that bus services like Gaubus, Metrobus and Putco have been made available for free. In terms of Gautrain buses, the City has increased its capacity and it has also been made available for free across the entire province.

“There is still a lot of pressure there because that is almost the only road that can take you out of Sandton if you use Grayston Drive. But we have removed the restrictions on West Street so we can allow a flow of traffic,” detailed EcoMobility planning committee member Sipho Nhlapo.

Marlborough and Grayston bridges will remain open for traffic to cross over the M1, and JMPD pointsmen have been deployed at the Rivonia /N1 offramp to assist motorists coming into the Sandton area, the City tweeted.

Park and Ride facilities to Sandton will also be free.

Parts of the M1 will remain closed however until further notice, from Athol Oaklands Road in Melrose to the N1 Buccleuch interchange.

The City also explained that the bridge that collapsed and its scaffolding isn’t part of the EcoMobility Festival. “The collapsed Scaffolding is not part of Ecomobility festival. It is a construction planned to be completed next year,” it said.

According to EWN, the City also partnered with taxi-hailing app Uber to provide free rides up to R250 to and from Gautrain stations last night.

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