Crucial road markings dividing lanes on Brackenfell Boulevard – the suburb’s busiest thoroughfare – were not completed last year due to what the City of Cape Town has termed “capacity constraints”. This was confirmed by the City’s Mayco member for urban mobility, Rob Quintas, last week.
The affected stretch of road runs from Frans Conradie Drive in the central business district to De Bron Road in Vredekloof, a key route in Brackenfell that has become increasingly hazardous due to missing lane markings.
A month ago a man tragically lost his life at one of the affected crossings where the road turns off onto the N1.
At this junction, the absence of clear lane markings has been flagged as a serious safety risk by motorists. However, a direct causal link between the accident and the absence of adequate road markings cannot be drawn. The accident is still under investigation
Having witnessed many near head-on collisions on this very section of the road, frustrated by the City’s lack of response, members of the Bracken Heights Neighbourhood Watch turned to TygerBurger for help after reporting the issue more than two months ago, with no action taken.
Near accidents
According to Buks Smuts who uses the road daily he has observed several near accidents on the sections of the road where road markings are “non-existent”.
“As motorists cross the N1 bridge and attempt to turn onto the highway, they face oncoming traffic from the opposite direction, creating a serious risk of head-on collisions as the traffic is not regulated into channels due to there being no road markings. The same applies at the turn-off into Marigold Road, as well as the crossing at Stanley Street. At the Stanley Street crossing, Brackenfell Boulevard splits into three lanes – to turn left right and continue straight, a situation that poses danger in the absence of clear road markings,” says Smuts.
To compound the problem taxis pass by on emergency lanes and buses rank in the same emergency lanes just pass the Gene Louw Traffic College.
“Brackenfell Boulevard is a major road that carries a lot of traffic throughout the day,” he says.
“This crossing is of grave concern due to faded road markings, which will worsen as the winter sets in,” he wrote in his complaint to the City.
Quintas did not provide specific details on the nature of these capacity constraints to complete the work, but TygerBurger has it on good authority that the delay was largely due to a shortage of available contractors to carry out the work during the previous financial year.
“The road markings will be done as part of this current 2025-’26 financial year programme,” he says in response to questions posed by the newspaper. “These were scheduled last year but due to capacity constraints the City was unable to do these markings in the previous financial year.”
