Final preparations ahead of EcoMobility Festival

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Pretoria - The City of Johannesburg says it is putting in place the final permanent and temporary infrastructure ahead of the official launch of the EcoMobility World Festival.

Road closures in the Sandton CBD will be in effect by 6am on Sunday and changes to road use will therefore start on the day.

“There will be no contra flow lanes on weekends, only on weekdays. This will start on 5th October at 5:30am in the morning. Some park and rides will be open on Sunday but all park and rides will start on Monday,” said the city in a statement on Wednesday.

Some infrastructure was set up yesterday along the West Street sidewalks and the cycle walks that will be completed on the north side and the resurfacing.  

However, the city said the road will not be re-opened for traffic and all vehicles will continue to use the southbound side of West.

West Street southbund was expected to be marked on Wednesday in both directions in preparation for the festival and this will be in place between now and the end of October.

“[The] public transport loop will be completed but enforcement will only start on Sunday,” said the city.

The erection of EcoMobility road signage will be completed on Friday, and the city said there will be a dry run of the pop up bike lane in Maude Street at 10am. “There may be minor traffic disruptions for 30 minutes,” said the city.

Road closures

The city warned that road closures will be affected by Saturday evening at Alice Lane and West Street, Gwen Lane and Maude Street, and Maude Street and West Street (south side).

“This means that people will still be able to access these streets but not for the purpose of going to West Street. Roads and sidewalks will be cleaned and all branding will be put up on the day,” said the city.

All road closures and changes to roads will be in place on Sunday and the public transport loop will be in operation along Rivonia, Fredman and Fifth Street.

Park and Rides will be in operation on George Lea, Marie, Innesfree, and Randburg Square.

“Streets alive event will see closure of parts of West, Maude, Linden, Daisy Grayston Drive, Rautenbach, Watt and Selbourne between 6.30am and 1pm,” said the city.

As of Monday, all changes to Sandton streets will be in place and the activation of managed public transport lanes on Katherine, Republic, Sandton Drive and William Nicol will be effective from 6am to 9am and from 3.30pm to 6pm in the afternoon.

Pop up cycle lanes from Rosebank, Parkmore, Alexandra and Morningside will also be in place. - SAnews.gov.za