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The following update was received from the SA National Roads Agency Limited regarding the progress being made on repairing the flood-damaged R-72 and the N-2 between PE and Grahamstown.
In a statement on Monday Sanral raid there were three portions of the R-72 that had been affected by the floods.
"The first was a culvert collapsing about 13km outside Alexandria. This culvert has been replaced using half-width construction whereby the one half of the road is closed for construction and the other half is used for traffic with stop/go traffic control. This repair work will be completed before the end of the week."
"The second affected portion was the Kasouga River Bridge where the layer work of the road was washed away behind the bridge abutment on the Port Alfred side. This was repaired by installing a gabion protections structure and re-instated the layer works. This repair was completed last week."
"The third portion was a box culvert ( about 10km west of Port Alfred) that became distressed after the floor of the culvert was washed away. This caused the foundations to settle resulting in deformations and render the structure unsafe. The foundation was underpinned by mass concrete to replace the floor and give support to the walls. This section of road was opened to one way light traffic on Saturday."
"The structure is currently monitored for any further settlements and deformations. We also await the test result for the concrete strength. If no more settlement and deformation of the structure occurs and the required concrete strength is achieved, we hope to first open the road to one way truck traffic and hopefully two way traffic by the end of the week."
"On the N2 where a big slip occurred between Nanaga and Grahamstown, we are busy constructing a bypass that will hopefully be completed by early December."
