Sanral will enclose the N2 Blackburn Bridge in KZN to stop criminals hurling rocks and other dangerous objects on to motorists.
|||Durban - The SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) will totally enclose the N2 pedestrian bridge near the Mount Edgecombe interchange to stop criminals hurling rocks and other dangerous objects at motorists below.
Sanral has called for applications for the supply and erection of screens for the bridge - also known as the N2 Blackburn Bridge - as part of routine road maintenance on the N2 and N3. The project should take two months.
Unofficial statistics show at least three motorists were attacked with rocks there last year. Police did not respond with official figures.
Vishani Rabindranath, from Chatsworth, was travelling from Sibaya Casino in July 2012. A brick broke the windscreen, striking her in the face.
The same evening a “huge rock” struck Michelle Louw’s car.
Sanral spokesman Vusi Mona said there was no plan to enclose all bridges in its network as “there have not been any other incidents of a similar nature”.
But media reports tell a different story. Some of the more serious incidents include:
* July 2012: Michael Nannucci was killed when bricks were thrown from a bridge on the N2 near the old airport.
* November 2010: Siphesihle Zuma was killed when a concrete slab was thrown from the Candella Road bridge over the N3.
* August 2009: Kajal Balkishoon was killed by a rock flung from the N2 bridge near Chesterville.
* January 2007: Dianne Govender was killed by an 8kg rock thrown from a bridge over the N2 near Groutville.
Other incidents from 2010 to 2012 occurred from bridges on the N2 - including near the old airport, at Hibberdene, and Kingsway Hospital, and on the N3 - under Candella Road - and on Jan Smuts Highway/M13.
Adrian Peters, the head of engineering at eThekwini, asked why Sanral was enclosing the Blackburn Bridge, saying it was expensive for “isolated events”.
“The problem could have been better dealt with by some kind of enforcement programme. The bridge is close to a community so they could have looked at job creation programmes where community members patrolled that bridge.”
The Mercury