On schedule and on budget… That’s what every contractor and client dreams of being able to say about their major project. And that’s what the City of Cape Town, the Western Province government and their contractors and consultants can say about Hospital Bend Interchange.
After seven years of planning and two years of complex construction work, Capetonians are now able to use the newly completed Hospital Bend Interchange, which is expected to greatly ease traffic flow to and from the central city.
[ad#Google Adsense 125×125 Blog Post]Good traffic flow does not just happen – it is planned and designed that way, say the Hospital Bend team. “It is the product of good teamwork, accurate detail design and thoroughly planned implementation.” As a result, road users experienced minor inconvenience during construction, and lanes were only closed or restricted during night-time off-peak traffic periods.
The project – at a cost of R263 million (excluding VAT) – has become one of the City’s flagship infrastructure projects.
Planning began in 2001, and work started in October 2008. The result is the final phase of the upgrading of the N2 Freeway into Cape Town (with the emphasis on the section from Cape Town International Airport, linking the Southern Suburbs and Khayelitsha).
The main problem areas – resolved with this upgrade – were the traffic congestion on both the inbound and the outbound carriageways caused by extensive weaving or lane changes by vehicles.
An extensive planning process, including detailed traffic studies, evaluation of concept designs and extensive consultation with stakeholders over the years, resulted in this innovative proposal that made the most of the current infrastructure, with relatively minimal changes to it but with substantial improvements to traffic capacity and safety. The main feature is the pre-selection scheme concept, which allows motorists to select their destinations in advance of Hospital Bend.
Updated landscaping beautifies the Interchange, with new lawn, indigenous renosterveldt shrub and groundcover, new sloped embankments and 260 new trees.
