Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) said it needs over R70 million to repair all vandalised traffic lights intersections across the City of Johannesburg, as residents and motorists continue to struggle with hours of traffic delays.
While the issue is widespread, municipalities in Gauteng, such as the City of Tshwane metro and Ekurhuleni metro, are grappling with similar challenges.
In Johannesburg, the ongoing issue of non-functioning traffic lights continues to disrupt daily commutes.
Residents said broken traffic signals regularly force drivers to wait more than 30 minutes, worsening congestion and travel times.
Beyer's Naudé Drive, one of the most severely impacted areas, starts at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in Auckland Park and stretches through Melville, Roosevelt Park, Northcliff, and Blackheath, crossing the N1 Western Bypass at Randpark Ridge.
On the road, multiple traffic lights have stopped working with some being stolen.
Thandeka Mduna, 42, a resident from Honeydew, said more than three traffic lights have been stolen from the area, contributing to severe traffic jams.
“It's been more than five years since the traffic lights have been stolen and vandalised,” Mduna said. “Some are broken and have not been fixed.”
She added that the absence of working traffic lights often leads to long delays, particularly during peak hours.
“The traffic on the road is very bad and it’s very frustrating, even if you wake up early,” Mduna said.
“I travel to Joburg every day and I have to wait more than 30 minutes to get to work.”
Alfred Boya, 33, from Cosmo City, in Joburg North, echoed the frustration of non-functioning traffic lights, particularly at intersections along Malibongwe Drive.
"Sometimes the traffic lights work, and sometimes they don’t,” Boya said.
“It's very frustrating. We are fed up with this whole situation because it impacts our jobs.”
Meanwhile, the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) oversees a network of 2,023 signalised intersections and has reported widespread vandalism and theft of traffic lights infrastructure.
The road agency manages more than 16,000 poles, 100,000 LED bulbs, and 2,023 controller boxes, but the infrastructure is regularly damaged by theft and vandalism.
Last month, the JRA said it was dealing with more than 360 cases of vandalism and theft, with new incidents reported daily.
Speaking with IOL News, Sipho Nhlapo, the JRA’s acting head of department for traffic lights, confirmed the ongoing problem.
He said 200 warning signals were recently vandalised.
“JRA is restoring vandalised intersections with the assistance of contractor bolstering maintenance teams and therefore, the numbers are constantly changing, as the activities are executed,” Nhlapo said.
The JRA attributed the ongoing failure of traffic lights to theft, vandalism, and power outages.
“The absence of power makes it easier for theft and vandalism to take place, for there will be no risk of electrocution,” Nhlapo explained.
He stressed that the JRA is working to address these issues and improve the infrastructure.
“Theft and vandalism of traffic signal infrastructure are criminal activities, punishable in terms of the Criminal Matters Amendment Act.”
“The JRA reports identified challenges to the law enforcement agencies,” he told IOL News.
Furthermore, he said, the JRA is investigating innovative solutions to improve implementing robust and smart infrastructure.
“We are in the process of receiving responses from service providers to a Request for Information that the JRA issued. The process is underway,” Nhlapo added.
He said the estimated cost for fixing non-functioning traffic lights on average is R500,000.00 to rebuild a signal where signal equipment is stolen.
“Given the number of vandalised sites, over R70 million is required to repair all vandalised intersections (as current).”
Nhlapo said the activities of fixing the malfunctioning traffic lights have begun, with the assistance of the contractors.
He added that power failures are also the main contributors to the failure of traffic lights.
According to Nhlapo, the City’s power utility City Power and state-owned power utility Eskom have the same challenge of theft and vandalism of their infrastructure.
“As such, JRA continues to liaise with the power utility companies for their contributions,” he added.
IOL News