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Question of road traffic congestion and de-congestion in the Greater

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Article · January 2007

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 THE QUESTION OF ROAD TRAFFIC CONGESTION AND
DECONGESTION IN THE GREATER JOHANNESBURG AREA:
SOME PERSPECTIVES

JAMES CHAKWIZIRA*

CSIR Built Environment

P. O. Box 395
Pretoria 001
Tel: +27 12 841-2942
Fax: +27 12 841-4054
E-mail: jchakwizira@csir.co.za

ABSTRACT

This paper is concerned with the road traffic congestion problems and decongestion
initiatives in the Greater Johannesburg Area (GJA). A rapid appraisal of the traffic
congestion and decongestion map and atlas of the GJA was conducted with the objective
of advancing a pragmatic approach to transforming the problems into opportunities and
seed through the deployment of transportation scientific knowledge and ideas into positive
tangible outputs and deliverables. In this regard, an analysis of a sample of measures and
instruments used to regulate road traffic and transport challenges in the GJA was
undertaken. It is premised on the view that traffic and transport perspectives and
paradoxes characterizing the region and practice are a direct output of local traffic and
transport processes, systems and institutions which are poorly customized and formatted
to be pro-actively responsive to the dynamics, evolving and mutating challenges of the
GJA transportation demands. A sample of transport proposals, systems and initiatives
adopted and adapted to date were collectively analyzed to gauge their potential impact
and contribution in resolving key traffic congestion and decongestion challenges bedeviling
the study area. The synthesis uses the matrix technique for analysis while the research is
based on extensive literature review, physical observation and key informant views. The
findings highlight that a gap exists between the traffic and transport images hypothesized
and conceptualized in the plans and professional practice on the one hand, and the traffic
and transport realities as experienced on the ground. The major conclusion is that an
integrated and comprehensive land, air and road based strategic transportation framework
and perspective plan reflecting input from all stakeholders could lay the foundation on
which an appropriate, responsive and sustainable congestion and decongestion
framework, mitigation and response mechanism can rest.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

This paper is about traffic congestion and decongestion in the Greater Johannesburg Area
(GJA). The problem investigated is the exponential rise in traffic population vis-à-vis a
fixed inelastic supply of the road and route network infrastructure, leading to recurrent and
non-recurrent congestion affecting and impacting on the GJA transportation and built
environment infrastructure and landscape. The paper’s main argument is that the traffic
congestion and decongestion challenges, although partly attributable and maybe a
consequent of the apartheid philosophy and legacy, can be resolved and overturned
through integrated and pro-active comprehensive transport planning, networking,
collaboration and partnerships between transportation experts, institutions and
organizations within and without South Africa. The argument is premised on the view that
synergies provide for enhanced models, holistic responses and approaches to tackling
traffic congestion and decongestion challenges. It is further suggested and projected that
the mismatch and gaps between urban transportation plans aimed at addressing traffic
congestion and decongestion peculiar to the GJA among other noble initiatives and
intentions and the realities at and during implementation are key to explaining why
transport plans and performance are at variance with envisaged views and expectations of
politicians, society and the professional group at large. Developing systems and methods
that can close the gap between envisaged transportation images and realities cannot be
over-emphasized. At the same time, continued experimentation and funding of science
and technology, research and development institutions remains important if the ultimate
aim is to turn around traffic congestion and decongestion challenges in the GJA into a
success story of taming, calming, re-directing and platooning off traffic congestion and
decongestion. Various scenarios, models and perspectives , some implemented wholly,
others implemented in parts, others completely shelved, others discarded and some never
tabled are sieved and distilled and the traffic congestion and decongestion map and atlas
presented, analyzed and discussed.

A repertoire of methods and techniques were used in conducting the traffic congestion and
decongestion study in GJA. Extensive literature review was undertaken to establish key
traffic congestion and traffic decongestion themes and main responses and approaches
adopted and implemented to date. The situational analysis provided the base parameters
for traffic congestion and decongestion projections, modelling and simulation that form the
core of traffic congestion and traffic decongestion perspectives chronicled and debated in
this paper. Key informant and expert panel discussions and interviews were also done with
transport officials, academics and professionals in the transportation industry. In addition,
physical audits, windshield and roadside, and major route/arterial on-the-spot studies and
observations were executed. The combination of these different methods and techniques
were meant to approximate the actual traffic congestion and traffic decongestion
challenges in GJA by way of building-in, reliability, validity and authenticity in the study
instrumentation.

The remaining sections of the paper cover the background to the study area and problem,
problem analysis, recommendations and conclusion. The key findings of the GJA traffic
congestion and decongestion study in were analyzed and discussed in the context of both
long-term and short-term initiatives and perspectives with regard to establishing,
developing, entrenching and sustaining an effective framework for resolving traffic
congestion and decongestion challenges in GJA.

2.0 BACKGROUND TO STUDY AREA AND PROBLEM

Johannesburg is a sprawling city with a dual transport system (Saint Laurent, 1998:2). It
consists of a car-based system in the most developed areas, where automobile use is
almost compulsory; a semi-managed system in the poorest areas, where people move
through transport modes such as walking, cycling, bus et cetera. Transport is either by
way of commuter trains that serve limited areas of townships, minibus taxis or state
subsidized bus companies. Commuters and shoppers walk long distances to access
facilities (Beavon, 2002:10). During the apartheid era separate and differential transport
systems were supplied to the white and black communities as an explicit strategy, which
legacy still has a significant influence on the current configuration of services.

Johannesburg mass transit metro railway system connects central Johannesburg with
Soweto, Pretoria and most of the satellite towns along the Witwatersrand, transporting
huge volumes of workers everyday. However, the railway system built during
Johannesburg’s infancy covers largely the older areas of the city. However, in the past 50
years, Johannesburg has grown largely northwards and none of the areas including key
districts of Sandton, Midrand, Ranburg and Rosebank have any meaningful rail
infrastructure. It is in this context that the Gautrain rapid rail link has been proposed and is
being implemented, in part, to relieve traffic congestion on the N1 freeway between
Johannesburg and Pretoria which record traffic loads of over 160 000 per day (Wright,
2005).

Johannesburg is served by OR Tambo International Airport which will also be linked by the
Gautrain . Other airports include Rand airport, Grand Central Airport, and Lanseria. These
airports have witnessed significant increases in traffic volumes over the years, which by
extension, feeds into the road network.

Johannesburg is not built near a large navigable river. This means that from the beginning,
land transport has been a leading method of transporting people and goods in, around and
beyond the GJA. Johannesburg ring/orbitals road is comprised of three freeways that
converge on the city. The N3 eastern by pass links Johannesburg with Pretoria town. The
N12 southern bypass links Johannesburg with Witbank and Kimberley. There is also the
busy N1 route. The N3 was built with asphalt. The N12 and N1 western by pass are
constructed of concrete. In spite of being up to 12 lanes wide in some areas (6 lane one
direction), the Johannesburg ring road is frequently congested.

Spatially, the Johannesburg metropolis which covers an area of approximately 2 300km2

(Beavon, 2002), is a highly structured, fabricated and interlocked poly and multi-centric
urban mosaic. On the one hand, it stands for “the luxury city and city of control” as
reflected by Sandton, for example. The walled and gated communities in the northern
suburbs, Midrand, Yeoville and Melville, for instance, reflect the “gentrified city and the city
of advanced services”. The middle class South African areas such as Triumph (Sophia
town) lend themselves to the “suburban city and city of direct production”. The largely
previously segregated townships for Africans and Coloureds which are remnants of
apartheid highlight the “tenement city and the city of unskilled work”. Finally the
“abandoned city and the city of the informal city” are depicted by the informal settlements
which are generally located on the edges of townships or in any unused spaces such as
reflected by the inner areas, for example, Hilbrow. While the foregoing description does
not do justice to a complex urban environment, it certainly provides a basis to frame the
analysis.i .

Gauteng’s road network has to cope with an annual traffic increase rate of 7% with 1.8
million drivers and 2.8 million registered vehicles (Malefane, 2006). 40% of the national
fleet and traffic has been increasing on the M1/N1 corridor roughly 7% a year over the past
10 years. The average travel time to work in GJA has increased from 41,5 minutes in 1995
to 50 minutes in 2003, that is, a 17% increase over eight years (Shaw, 2005:11). Traffic
congestion affects thousands of people daily in Gauteng Province. During the peak hours,
impacts of accidents and the resulting delays add to the general navigation difficulties for
road users. Generally traffic congestion in GJA is evidenced and observed through routine
vehicle delays on major junctions and interchanges, vehicle queuing, traffic jam congestion
and delay induced and sparked accidents that characterize the morning, mid-afternoon
and evening traffic peak periods.

It should be noted that central and local government have a number of strategies and
proposals at their disposal to counter the ever-increasing congestion on modern urban
freeways and arterials such as expansion of the road network by means of the provision of
new infrastructure, the upgrading/widening of existing infrastructure and the optimization of
the use of existing infrastructure by means of congestion management instruments with
the aid of technology. However, worldwide, a menu and specimens of urban mass
transportation theories, approaches, models, policies, plans and strategies have been
experimented, modified and implemented with mixed results (Banjo, 1984; Serageldin,
1993).
Congestion may be defined as the saturation of road network capacity due to regular and
irregular reductions in service quality exemplified by increased travel times, variation in
travel times and interrupted travel. Congestion can be categorized into recurrent and non-
recurrent congestion. Recurrent congestion is caused by factors that relate to rapid growth
in population, urbanization and related growth in car ownership and use. Recurrent
congestion occurs mainly when there are too many vehicles at the same time,
consequently reducing traffic speed and increasing personal commuting time. This occurs
typically during peak hours but can occur off peak i.e. at other weekday hours and during
the weekend. On the other hand, non-recurrent congestion is associated with random
conditions or special and unique conditions, including traffic incidents (ranging from
disabled vehicles to major crashes), work zones which slow traffic down and weather and
special events (Banjo, 1984; Highway Capacity Manual, 2000). Because of the random
character of this type of congestion, non-recurrent congestion is more difficult to predict
and address. The impact of non-recurrent congestion on predictable and reliable travel
time is nonetheless important. The potential effects of traffic congestion are many ranging
from time and productivity loss, change in accident frequency and characteristics, increase
in air pollutants and GHGii emissions, increased vehicle operating costs and increased
noise nuisance (Serageldini, 1993). These consequences represent a loss of scarce
resources, which can amount to a significant value. At a certain level of severity, these
consequences could explain the location and relocation of land based activities (i.e.
industries, businesses, retail establishments, etc.) as well as the choices of individuals to
relocate their homes or even to change jobs or schools. It is therefore important to study
traffic congestion and decongestion challenges in GJA so that practical mitigation solutions
and policy responses are generated to sustain and protect an area that is a joy to live,
work and recreate in for all.

3.0 PROBLEM ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

3.1 One target, multiple simulations, different perspectives and contradictions

Discussions, interviews and literature distillation of key informants, practitioners, researchers and
academics yielded the conclusion that resolving traffic congestion and decongestion in GJA is and
will always be desirable. However, opinions and recommendations differed based on the best
practice and scenarios that would address the problems. Such contradictions and divergence of
opinion are quite healthy and expected especially when dealing and confronted with a mammoth
and complex task such as traffic decongestion and traffic congestion in GJA.

3.2 Gender issues

A cross-cutting issue that stands out is that traffic congestion and decongestion
responses/actions should not be carried out without a detailed and sober consideration of
the impact and scope of gender in the transportation equation and matrix. Insook Kang
(2006:5) argues that women’s experience in urban built environment is different from
men’s. Gender differentiated transport needs in GJA are intensified by the impacts of
gendered economic processes of globalization on Johannesburg. In short, this
underscores the need for a revolution and metamorphosis to transport planning and land
use management to re-align and define new methodological and philosophical
underpinnings that are gendered indeed, not only in theory but in practice, if the exclusion
and marginalization of women in efforts to address traffic congestion and traffic
decongestion in GJA is to be achieved. Adopting Molyneux (1985) (in Moser, 1993:38-39),
gendered transportation analytical tool which distinguishes between strategic gender
needs and practical gender needs can be a useful starting point.

The importance of urban land use planning to uncover male bias in urban transport is
based on the fact that transport is the single most important human activity bridging all
other activities undertaken in different places. Where people live and where they work, go
to school or shop will decide the exchange of trips between areas and roads, and transit
lines can channel these flows into corridors (Contrans, 2001:11). This leads to traffic
congestion and decongestion desire lines and impact zones which affect everyone
although the philosophical foundations and assumptions driving the decision making urban
framework are male based, orientated and projected. In addition, public transport has
served more frequently the peak hours than the off-peak hours and transport routes are
oriented to automobile users and focus on mobility rather than accessibility (Levy,
1992:94-95). Incidentally the peak hours services more men than women given the
differentiated access to jobs and higher percentages of males employed in various
productive sectors as compared to women in Johannesburg. In a way, this may imply
lower congestion and decongestion exposure and direct consequences to women than
men.

On the other hand, urban sprawl and increasing land use specialization have been
aggravated by the automobile cultures. The automobile oriented transport planning and
suburbanization is based on a deeper belief that all household members have equal
access to the automobile. However, in fact, male breadwinners usually get priority in using
the family car, resulting in women’s lack of mobility (Pickup, 1984 & Fox, 1983; in Levy,
1992:97). This may imply and indicate that men are affected severely and more exposed
to traffic congestion and decongestion challenges in Greater Johannesburg Area than
women.

3.3 Long term projections and simulations

3.3.1 Gautrain rapid rail link project within the context of enhanced urban mass
transportation in GJA
While South Africa has a fairly well developed commuter rail network operated by a
government owned corporation, the country lacks modern inter-city service (Wright, 2005).
With the introduction of the Gautrain, an approximately 80km route will connect
Johannesburg and Pretoria with trains running at 80 miles an hour. Six trains per hour will
run 18 hours a day between the two cities. Most of the Gautrain route in Johannesburg
and its suburbs will be underground, moving from park station in the city centre under the
Johannesburg hospital in Park town towards Rosebank and on to Sandton.
The train is expected to cut the number of cars on the N1 Ben Schoeman highway by 20%
with 135 000 passenger trips per day by 2010. However, figures released by the Gauteng
provincial government in 2003 indicate that the project will do little to alleviate traffic on the
over-used Ben Schoeman highway as traffic volumes will be higher when Gautrain is
completed and operating at full capacity in 2010. Rider ship projections and environmental
considerations are other areas were divergence of opinion flourish
(http:/www.joburg.org.za/city).

One key leading argument is that a single lane cannot solve the GJA traffic congestion and
traffic decongestion challenges. However, it should not be forgotten that the Gautrain was
and is not meant to be a substitute for road based transportation and was never conceived
as an alternative to urban mass public transport. In a way, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)
proposal and initiative answers to that call as well as complementing the Gautrain project.
The Curitiba experience could be informative as a reference and benchmarking point. At
the same time, it is important to also view the Gautrain rapid rail link line as a starting point
and line from where other lines and extensions are to be developed. This lends credence
to the concept of Gautrain as the anchor rail line from which an inner and outer ring rapid
rail link lines would integrate with the mass transport system in GJA. This requires further
research, studies, thought and discussions of models, approaches and strategies within
the ambit of the proposed national transport master plan 2005 - 2050 for South Africa. In
the same vein, the scope for implementing parallel mono and light rail projects could also
be explored.

Another argument provided for the Gautrain project is that it is a very expensive project
that takes away scarce transportation resources that could be used in various transport
projects in Gauteng Province as well as the nation at large. Cox (2005) indicates that the
estimated project cost has increase seven fold from the initial cost of R3,5-4 billion in
2002, R7 billion in 2003, R20 billion in 2005 and over 22.5 billion in 2006. Even this 2006
estimate is more likely to be surpassed when the final books are done by 2010.

While existing railways in South Africa use the narrower than standard Cape gauge of 1
067mm (3 feet 6 inches), Gautrain will be built to standard gauge (1435mm or 4 feet 8½
inches). According to Gautrain, standard gauge “is safer and more comfortable for speeds
of 130km/h and higher and will allow for cost-effective procurement of rolling stock”.
Bombadier Transportation’s Electrostar, a model of train common in south – east England,
has been selected for the system. The trains will be assembled by UCW Partnership in
South Africa from components made in Britain. A science and technology view highlights
the need to develop a rolling plan of skills and knowledge transfer to the locals so that
sustainability of the project and maintenance and rehabilitation costs will be reduced in the
long run. At the same time foreign currency is saved as substitute local companies are
established and developed to manufacture and service the Electrostar model trains
infrastructure and service needs.

3.3.2 Underground urban mass transportation railway system for Gauteng

The proposed underground urban mass transportation railway for Gauteng can only be
described as the direct opposite of the Gautrain. This is expected to complement and
assist in reducing traffic congestion and decongestion on the main road based systems in
Gauteng. The idea and proposal are not new as they were first conceived in the 1970s but
there was no follow through to implementation. Figure 1, shows various stages and cycles
through which the idea of an underground urban mass railway transportation system for
Johannesburg has passed through.
1971 1974 1975 1985 1994 2003
The The committee The Driessen The scraping of The Masstrans The city of Johannesburg
underground Recommended Committee revived influx control plan transport department found
transport idea government the idea of a which restricted recommended that the rail was the most
was first spend R92 Johannesburg the urban that the north- “effective mode of transport
mooted by the million a year on underground movement for all south line be for one way passenger
consultancies urban transport transport project but but whites could built first to come volume of more than 40 000
London infrastructure. no firm decision be foreseen, into operation in a day”. This suggests that
Transport was made on the therefore the 1994 an underground option may
Executive & matter because of 1971 study was still be the way to go in the
Mort, Hay & huge cost overhauled long term
Anderson
Figure 1: Timeline Perspectives on Underground Railway Project for Greater Johannesburg Area
(Source: Michael Schmidt, 2006:15)

Figure 1, sustains Schmidt’s (2006) argument that Johannesburg daily traffic congestion
and decongestion challenge may never have become a grim reality for millions of
commuters if an underground rail network had been built, as suggested 20 years ago.
Figure 2, shows the proposed underground railway layout for the then GJA. If
implemented, over time, the line could be extended incrementally in response to demand
as well as looking at options of optimizing its own efficiency through inner lines or outer
lines so that the underground railway train system is also functionally and internally
coherent and connected.

Figure 2: 1971 Proposed Underground Railway for Johannesburg Source: M Schmidt, 2005:15

The fact that this plan was not implemented reflects the fact that previously transportation
plans were inward looking rather then being outward. There was no institutional setup to
champion the GJA transportation needs. However, with the advent of the new political
dispensation in 1994, efforts and feelers have been made in this regard. The Gauteng
transport master plan and framework, for example, will most certainly tackle this gap.

3.3.3. Midtran: a new approach to community transport

Midtran was established in 1993 as a unique transport management company located in
Midrand to look at various options for providing refreshing and innovative means of public
transportation for its local community. Transport services were developed and
implemented as a functional venture between the commuting public, the private sector and
local government. Although in depth planning and restructuring was a lengthy process, the
formation of Midtrain resulted in a new culture in which transportation systems could
emerge. An important dimension to this is the clean commute initiative, a joint venture with
the International Institute for Energy Conservation (IIEC) and the South African
Department for Minerals and Energy Affairs. It encouraged car-pooling, flexi time and
transportation for staff working over time, in an attempt to create alternative approaches to
commuting patterns that help optimize transport time and density. Midtrain and Eskom (the
largest electric utility) have also co-operated to test an electric car shuttle service at a large
business park in Midrand (Wonfor, 1998). The important issue stressed here is that the
initiative aims at tackling the traffic externalities which increase in traffic congestion
conditions since the travelling and idling time is increased.

3.1.5 SANRAL’s intelligent transport systems

Technology combined with telecommunications can be utilized very effectively to do real
time monitoring of road network conditions, process the information and make informed
decisions to manage the road network. This technology can also be used to improve
incident management. The speed of response to an accident has a direct influence on the
safety of persons involved in the incident/accident as well as the extent of congestion
caused directly or indirectly by the aforementioned.

South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) commenced with the
implementation of an intelligent transport systems (ITS) pilot project along the N1 Ben
Schoeman freeway in Gauteng in 2005iii. This project is branded SANRAL i-traffic
(intelligent – traffic) project. The project was done in cooperative partnership with the
Gauteng Department of Transport, Roads and Works, the Tswane, Johannesburg and
Erkurhuleni Metropolitan Councils, as well as the South African Police Service (SAPS).
Continued research and experimentation to determine tailor made solutions for local
conditions are still underway and results are still tentative. The ITS project highlights the
potential role and scope of telematics in resolving traffic congestion and decongestion
within the GJA and the transportation field generally.

3.4 Short term interpolations and simulations

3.4.1 Car pooling and introduction of the “efficient lane”

Oxford and Rivonia roads are set to have dedicated public-transport lanes for exclusive
use by buses, and taxis, encouraging traffic shy motorists to use public transport. It is still
too early to make formative evaluations on the impact of dedicated transport lanes in GJA
although indications so far are encouraging. Plans to establish cycling lanes and bicycle
facilities at Gautrain stations are a welcome development. Travel demand management
strategies including concessions for high occupancy vehicles (HOV) will also incentivise
private car users to move to public transport.

3.4.2 Scope for non-orthodox business operating styles and working hours
One can argue that the traffic congestion and decongestion challenge in GJA is deeply
ingrained and embedded in the business operating paradigm and mindset, which offers
itself to the fact and principle that working hours start at eight (8 a.m.) in the morning and
finish roughly at four (4 p.m.) in the late afternoon. This means that schoolchildren,
workers, industrialists are all bundled and packed together to synchronize and fit
simultaneously their trips and activities in that time slot. They indeed all have to wake up
and rush to conduct their daily activities at almost the same time and finish off their
activities and rush back home at approximately the same times. This means an approach
that can reverse and challenge the practice can offer respite in resolving the traffic
congestion and decongestion puzzle and jigsaw in GJA.

The National Household Travel Survey report(Statistics South Africa, 2006) shows that a
South African who uses their own vehicle spend at least 1½ hours in traffic each day, while
10 million people who use public transport spend 2 hours getting to and from work. The
need to alleviate traffic congestion and traffic decongestion can not be any greater. One
proposal is to adopt a proposed 9 – 5 radical traffic plan in GJA (Molele 2006:1). To
smoothen and platoon off traffic congestion and decongestion through managing the
working hour is part of traffic demand and supply management techniques. This can take
the form of flexi-time; staggered working hours; extended working weeks to finally
compressed working weeks. The idea and concept has been experimented with
throughout the world with mixed results. However, piloting and customizing the project and
learning through implementation is considered prudent given the severity of traffic
congestion in GJA and its negative impact on productivity.

3.5 Distilling the greater Johannesburg area transportation challenge

The melting pot of traffic congestion and decongestion challenges and responses adopted
so far are summarised in Figure 3. Suffice to say that an intergrated comprehensive
strategic transportation planning, management and sustainability approach is underlined
as key to resolving the issues at hand.

PROJECTS/PROGRAMMES/ACTIONS/INITIATIVES/PROPOSALS TRANSPORT FRAMEWORK

Variable BRT & Rea Vaya Gautrain Rapid rail Johannesburg TSF DSM
Concept & Proposal Link Project Underground
Railway Proposal
Approach • Focus more on public mobility more than accessibility • Macro- transportation stakeholders
• Hardware transportation infrastructure & facilities orientation more than decision making, strategies, plans,
software transportation services and systems activities & environmental focus
• Micro-projects, initiatives, prototypes & demonstration projects based • Macro-transportation policy, legislation,
systems, institutions approach
• bus rapid mass transit • Rail rapid transit • Rail mass transit • Generic & broad • Specific &
system system system • Municipal detailed
• BRT • RRL • URL Integrated • Dedicated
Justification • Public Transport • Public Transport • Public Transport Transport Lanes
• Congestion • Congestion • Congestion System • HOV lanes
• Pollution • Pollution • Pollution • Spatial • Car Clubs
• Traveling Time • Traveling Time • Traveling Time Development • Car Pooling
• Mobility • Mobility • Mobility Frameworks • ITS
Infrastructure • Road and route • Rail network • Rail network • Hubs & Satellite • Business
networks • Construct/built • Construct & built Concepts Operating &
• Median bus only lanes new rail line new underground • DoT Action Plan Management
rail line & • Johannesburg Strategies
ancillary facilities ITP
Ingredients/C • Use 160 seater buses • Single rail line • Multiple lines &
omponents • Road & bus based • Can be linked to grid to serve all
• Park & ride schemes NMT high commuting
• Distance based fare proposals/projects zones/areas
system • North – South • Nodes to be
• Multiple route Link extended
corridors (incl. inner • 80 km route according to
city distribution) length demand
• Rea Vaya trunk or • anticipated high
500m feeder corridor ridership levels
Status • Expected to be • To be operational • Shelved
operational by 2009 by 2010
Key Points • Project Focused •
Strategic
• Inward Looking •
Outward Looking
• Incremental •
Comprehensive
• “Stand alone” challenges •
Vertical and horizontal linkages
challenges
Overall Intergrated Comprehensive Transportation Planning, Management & Sustainability Approaches, Models,
Comment Programmes, Projects & Ideas
Figure 3: Comparative Analytical Matrix of Greater Johannesburg Area Transportation Perspectives

4.0 RECOMMENDATIONSiv

A number of recommendations emanate from this study. Only major themes are indicated
and discussed here;
1. Need for a GJA underground railway urban mass transport system requires further work
and may be a tenable option in the future. Given the fact that land for freeways and
highways construction and expansion is slowly diminishing in the GJA, the only viable
option may be to go underground. The proposal may require refinement and
customization to Johannesburg local conditions but benchmarking can be done from
international case studies such as the London and Paris underground railway systems.
2. Gautrain rapid rail link line cannot be expected to solve the GJA’s traffic congestion and
decongestion challenges. It is however an important consideration and should make a
significant contribution in reducing traffic congestion and decongestion, but in itself,
cannot be the panacea.
3. The spatial development frameworks and route corridors (satellite and hubs concepts) in
the GJA are an initiative that require strengthening and further support so that they
contribute meaningfully to transportation planning with a view to lowering and reducing
the traffic volumes and loads on key distributors/arterials in the GJA.
4. Existing public mass transport system initiatives and proposals such as the BRT and Rea
Vaya should be buttressed so that a functionally effective and efficient transportation
system for the GJA is realised. This will complement the Gautrain rapid rail link.
5. The hardware infrastructure options and strategies need to be complemented by a
software implementation strategy and options. In this grain, initiatives such as SANRAL’s
i-transport project, dedicated lanes, HOV lanes, bus lanes, bicycle lanes and ancillary
facilities become key initiatives in traffic congestion ad decongestion measures and
actions to resolve the GJA traffic congestion problem.
6. Partnerships, collaboration and networking activities, ventures and proposals/project
between government, private sector and civil society have potential in addressing the
Greater Johannesburg Area traffic congestion and decongestion problem. Such potential
should be tapped and optimized for efficient flow and movement of traffic in the GJA.
7. It is important to realize that spatial fragmentation legacy has been carried forward in
terms of the GJA planning institutions, systems and processes. The polycentric spatial
configuration, fabrication and metropolitan conurbation of the GJA in terms of Sandton,
Randburg, Midrand, Soweto, etc. is a unique feature of the area that in itself is a strength
as well as a cause for concern. A need to realign and recast them in the light of
integrated and comprehensive transportation planning is compelling. This stems from the
fact that the different municipalities that comprise the GJA have and are busy conceiving
and implementing spatial development frameworks, transportation blue prints and
strategies within the confines and purview of their areas of jurisdiction and mandate.
These plans are therefore inconsistent, uncoordinated and not harmonized with each
other. Under such a context it becomes difficult to tackle congestion and decongestion
challenges that are and need inter-jurisdictional planning, development and
management. The Gauteng Strategic Transport Master Plan and institution established
by government is therefore a step in the right direction. It seeks to close such gaps and
provide a departure point for collective resolution of the issues within the orbit of an over-
arching cross cutting transport authority for the GJA. Also, post Apartheid
intergovernmental alignment is therefore a move in the right directionv.
8. Funding and support for research and development and experimentation works in traffic
congestion and traffic decongestion plans, designs, proto-types, projects/proposal
remain important areas as the quest and search for a lasting, durable and stable
sustainable traffic congestion and decongestion solution for GJA continues to gather
momentum.

5.0 CONCLUSIONS
The research, findings and discussions have highlighted that solving traffic congestion and
traffic decongestion in GJA is and will and has never been a simple and straight forward
linear and vector equation. It is a complex equation that involves matrices and requires a
thorough, cautious and multi-pronged transportation and land use collaboration and
partnership approach. Creating and recreating, making and remaking, fabricating and re-
fabricating, structuring and restructuring, shaping and reshaping, engineering and re-
engineering, formulating and reformulating, modelling and re-modelling, simulating and re-
simulating, projecting and re-projecting, developing and implementing mitigating plans,
policies, responses and alternative traffic congestion ad decongestion actions has and
continues to be fertile ground for experimentation and tackling. This paper is one such
attempt in making a contribution towards the entrenchment of enhanced transportation
responses with regard to resolving the traffic congestion and decongestion challenges in
the GJA. However, it should be pointed out that traffic congestion and decongestion
measures and plans that will remedy and change the landscape and traffic architectural
façade of Johannesburg is not a preserve for traffic and transportation planners alone,
neither is it for urban and land use planners solely, but the greater built environment
professions and beyond have each critical roles and areas of input which without them the
GJA congestion and decongestion challenge will remain largely unpacked and unresolved.
Supporting and entrenching a GJA urban mass transportation dynamics laboratory or on a
much bigger scale, a transportation research laboratory in a research institution such as
the CSIR can provide footage and anchorage to the incubation and delivery of appropriate
urban mass transportation technologies, models and responses that will better tackle and
address head on the congestion and decongestion challenges in GJA than has happened
hitherto.

It is intriguingly interesting to note that a complex, unique transportation jigsaw such as

that epitomized by the GJA defies generalizations. It thus befits such a study, phenomena
and city size system that more questions should be raised rather than answers in
conclusion, such as: how best can the transportation institutional framework be adapted
and upgraded to be appropriate and relevant to the changing and dynamic urban
transportation realities of GJA? How best and under what conditions can the
implementation of long term sustainable urban transportation infrastructure projects in GJA
be undertaken and achieved? What is the best and optimum form of urban design and
roads and route network form shape and size that can contain and absorb the changes in
traffic volume, desire lines and spatial growth nodes existing and projected within the
Greater Johannesburg region, now and in the future? What components and inputs and
form should an integrated and comprehensive GJA transportation master plan take? What
are the capacity building and science and technology transportation sustainability issues
underpinning a transportation revolution and transformation in the Greater Johannesburg
Area?

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i
See the multiple works of David Smith, Alan Mabin, Llindsey Bremmer, Vanessa Watson, Philip Harrison
and many others
ii
Sulphur oxides (SOx)Nitrogen oxides (NOx), Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), poly-aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAH), hydrocarbons (HC), particulate matter (PM), methane (CH4) and carbon monoxide
(CO)
iii
SANRAL i-traffic project will be extended to other national freeways in Gauteng in line with contract awards
in areas such as along the N1 past Pretoria , the N4 towards Witbank, the N1 down to the N12 at Soweto,
the N12 to the South of Johannesburg, as well as between Gilloolys and Daveyton, the N17 between the N3
and Dalpark and the N3 from Buccleuch to Vosloorus et cetera.
iv
These recommendations are not exhaustive or neither inclusive nor exclusive of any other noble ideas and
proposal for traffic congestion and decongestion measures and strategies to address the greater
Johannesburg congestion challenge. These are presented to stimulate debate and continue work towards
the development of an authentic, indigenous appropriate traffic congestion and traffic decongestion response
to the greater Johannesburg challenge.
v
For Example the Strategic Plan (such as CoJ IDP, Gauteng GDS, NSDP) and policy imperatives such as
(IDP Strategic Thrusts (CoJ), Strategic Levers (GDS), Principles of Vision (NSDP) leading to practical
alignment in terms of interdepartmental alignment and progress/action are crucial milestones and building
blocks for greater success in future.

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