Sandy: Baden Powell Drive. Picture: Leon Lestrade / Independent Newspapers.
The City has a plan to deal with sand on Baden Powell Drive during windy conditions, which often leads to traffic jams on the popular and busy beach road.
A new pilot project by the City of Cape Town to curb the sand drifts of Sonwabe Dune between Strandfontein and Sunrise Circle commenced on 13 November, spearheaded by the City’s Roads Infrastructure Management Department and the Coastal Management Branch.
Deputy Mayor and Mayco Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Eddie Andrews, said the pilot project involves installing “wind nets” in strategic places to trap the sand closer to the ocean before it reaches Baden Powell Drive.
The sand that manages to escape the nets will then be removed with machinery to Sonwabe Beach every year or two.
Mayco member for Urban Mobility Rob Quintas said the wind nets have also been put into action in Hout Bay, where it's been helping to keep Promenade Road clear of sand for years.
“If successful, the portion of road where the intervention is implemented should remain free of sand, eliminating the need to close this section of road due to wind-blown sand accumulation, as well as reducing the maintenance burden and costs to the City’s Roads Department.”
The pilot project will be maintained until 30 May 2025.
A female motorist who asked to remain anonymous called for the trial to also be rolled out on the road near Khayelitsha.
She says often when that section of Baden Powell Drive is closed, they have to take a detour through Khayelitsha and as a woman she does not feel safe.
byron.lukas@inl.co.za
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