As sub-councils around the city held their first meetings for the year, Ward 54 councillor, Nicola Jowell, reported that she had received three requests for traffic calming measures from residents in her ward.
One of these was for traffic calming in Bantry Bay and two in Sea Point, while Ward 77 councillor Francine Higham, had received a similar request for Vredehoek.
Motivating his request, Bantry Bay resident Dr Joe Polliack, said, according to the remedial engineering measures programme screening guideline (REMPSG), it was not safe for pedestrians to cross Queens and Regent roads at the traffic circle in Sea Point. This request was endorsed by Ms Jowell at the sub-council 16 meeting.
The REMPSG is a form that the ward councillor or resident completes and submits to the sub-council.
“I often walk that way and I see that people have difficulty to cross that road, especially the holiday makers that come from the President hotel area,” Dr Polliack said.
“There’s a lot of traffic there and its impossible to get from one side of Queens Road to the other, the cars are not going too fast but enough to make you run across. I feel there is a better way to cross that road than what exists now. The pressure is on the pedestrian to find a gap, imagine if someone trips and falls.”
Ms Jowell has also supported requests for speed humps in Alexander Road in Sea Point; and speed humps and a camera on the corner of Fir Avenue and Rochester Road in Bantry Bay where, the application says, taxis disregard the stop sign.
Alexander Road, is often used by speeding motorists to access Beach Road, said Ms Jowell. The Atlantic Sun has previously reported on speeding in this area (“Beach Road residents revved up over noise, racing,” Atlantic Sun, November 25, 2021)
In her ward, Ms Higham has supported a request for an additional stop street, speed humps or a pedestrian crossing at the intersection between Highlands Avenue and Deer Park Drive in Vredehoek.
Ms Jowell said the requests would be sent to the road network management unit of the City’s Urban Mobility department, for further assessment.
“They (Urban Mobility) deal with high volumes of traffic calming requests so they have a long list and we are aware that these applications can take a significant amount of time. We (sub-council) could wait for 120 days to feedback from them,” said Ms Jowell.
“Should any of these traffic calming measures be approved, they will then go into a budget cycle where we would have to determine if there is budget availability and schedule it in with regards to other projects.”
Last year, said Ms Jowell, she and Ward 115 councillor Ian MacMahon had submitted a motion for a holistic traffic management plan for the Atlantic Seaboard.
“Our request is that we need an overarching traffic calming plan and not ad-hoc requests which may not tackle the most problematic areas,” she said.
