#Foreshore Freeway Completion Project - CBD | Completion

[Mosi-oa-Tunya]

Name: Foreshore Freeway Completion Project
Use: Road Infrastructure
Status: Hollow flyovers have been stalled since the 1976 uprising during apartheid era
Location: Foreshore, Cape Town

[Mosi-oa-Tunya]

Unfinished freeway, an eyesore for the Cape

Cape Town's famous unfinished Eastern Boulevard freeway is set to continue its iconic status - at least until after the 2010 World Cup.

Unfinished since the 1970s, the freeway is set to still be around to greet thousands of football fans when the World Cup rolls into town, unless a financial backer intervenes.

City transport director Maddie Mazaza said: "The completion of the project is not going to be done in the short-term. It will not be done before 2010."

The Eastern Boulevard freeway was initially conceptualised in the early 1960s when it was proposed that an elevated freeway structure should be built along the Foreshore as part of a ring road concept for the CBD.


The completed sections of the freeway have fulfilled their purpose
This project was halted in 1977 because there was no justification in terms of traffic demand at that time for the completion of the inner viaducts.

The completed sections of the freeway have fulfilled their purpose, but increased demand over time has necessitated their completion.

Fast forward to the 21st century and the Foreshore has developed into a thriving business district boasting hotels, restaurants and office blocks.

There is a clear need to complete the freeway, and the city still has the plans, but Mazaza told the Cape Argus there was no budget to do so.

"If there was someone (private sector) prepared to fund the project, we would look into that," said Mazaza.

Dirk Elzinga, managing director of the Cape Town International Convention Centre, said: "I think it's a pity that at the time of construction of the Convention Centre, the freeway was not finished.

"The first thing foreign visitors see when they come to Cape Town is this unfinished freeway.

"It's very bad, unpleasant and it's an eyesore for the city."

[thryve]

Originally Posted by Mosi-oa-Tunya

Unfinished freeway, an eyesore for the Cape.

ermmm I think any downtown highway cutting the city off from the water is an eyesore.

You don't realize how painful it is for me to read this... more highways to cut the downtown off from the water is a bad thing. Toronto is desperately trying to find ways to deal with the location of its waterfront expressway right now, and we can't afford to replace it, or move it underground... let along demolish it. The expressway is decrepit... which the new CT ones will not be. But any expressway built in Cape Town will cut its downtown off from one of its greatest assets. Ouch.

[Mo Rush]

why is there a thread for this?

[Harkeb]

especially if its not going to be completed...? I was getting excited for a sec.

[thryve]

Good point, I mistook this as a statement that the highways were to be completed.

Is there a plan to phase them in section by section. There is a part of the article where someone is quoted saying "it won't be done by 2010"... so will it maybe be started?

I'll leave this thread open for now, anyway.

[dysan1]

I'm sure the plan will be to complete them, BUT it will be terrible terrible terrible for the city from a tourist perspective. it will totally cut the city and waterfront off. The city lodge, harbour edge, the southern sun places will all basically sit underneath the freeway....EEEEEWWWWWW!!!!!! I hope they can find an alternate way

[thryve]

exactly. C'mon Helen, come through for us!

[Harkeb]

Originally Posted by dysan1

I'm sure the plan will be to complete them, BUT it will be terrible terrible terrible for the city from a tourist perspective. it will totally cut the city and waterfront off. The city lodge, harbour edge, the southern sun places will all basically sit underneath the freeway....EEEEEWWWWWW!!!!!! I hope they can find an alternate way

"... Cape Town. thanks goodness we don't have that thing in Durban"

[dysan1]

we have our own, the section warick, but its a commuter zone...

u like bringing up durbs? secret love affair?

[Pule]

If they think that is an eyesore, I must say that they are mistaken, the real eyesore are those hsacks next to the freeway from the airport. That's the first thing they need to sort out.

[Mosi-oa-Tunya]

Certainly will agree that the squatters near the airport are a much bigger eyesore for tourists to see. The troubled Gateway housing project was supposed to address this problem.

[Mosi-oa-Tunya]

Thryve,
I could understand your argument about the horrid Gardener Expressway in Toronto and the need to avoid it in Cape Town, but with the traffic snarlups in the Cape Town CBD made worse by the new convention centre, I cannot see how they can address the traffic problem for 2010. I think the freeway should be finished as it would address a major problem in the CBD. Also I do not think that the tourists staying in the ArabellaSheraton Grand Hotel find the unfinished white elephant right below them appealing to look at when they look out their windows the next morning.

[dysan1]

yes but surely there is an alternate means to solve the problem?

[Mosi-oa-Tunya]

Originally Posted by dysan1

yes but surely there is an alternate means to solve the problem?

There has been talk a decade ago of knocking down the elevated freeway and flyovers and replacing it with a groundlevel boulevard. I think they increase freeway access to the city from the Eastern Precinct area but the eysore will still have to be dealt with. Maybe finish the flyovers so nothing looks out of place.

[Harkeb]

I'm all for a goundlevel boulevard. More appealing to the eye and less maintenance costs. However It will still mean that traffic destined for Greenpoint and beyond, will have to snail through the city + it's the entrance to the port for heavy vehicles.

[Mosi-oa-Tunya]

Letters

Completing unfinished freeways not a solution

November 13, 2006 Edition 1

Mark Brajtman of Sea Point ("Ques-tions for Boraine", November 6) sought answers from me with regard to the unfinished Foreshore freeways as well as the recent change of ownership of the V & A Waterfront.

The question of the unfinished freeways is a perennial one and is a matter that is possibly best addressed by local and provincial government transport authorities.

However, my personal view on the matter of the unfinished freeways is as follows:

Transport policy in general, and 2010 preparations in particular, focus on improving public transport, upgrading pedestrian walkways and public spaces and encouraging non-motorised transport, rather than building or extending highways.

Completing the Foreshore free- ways is therefore not high on the transport agenda.

From a central city planning perspective, a key challenge is to find ways to reconnect the city with the harbour and the sea.

The Foreshore freeways have acted as a barrier to this for the past 30 years. My personal preference, therefore, would be to put the freeways underground and fund this through commercial developments on the new land that would become available.

With regard to the fact that UK and Dubai investors (with local partners) have bought the V & A Waterfront, this is good news for Cape Town.

It has put the city and the Western Cape on the international investment map and the purchase has the potential to benefit a wider area of Cape Town than just the Waterfront.

Andrew Boraine

Chief Executive

The Cape Town Partnership

[clive3300]

Could they not just pretty it up with art / polished metal or something?

[Mo Rush]

They will prob cover it up with some form of billboard during the world cup.

[Mosi-oa-Tunya]

Letters
Freeway to nowhere

January 10, 2007 Edition 1

Andrew Ingram's aerial photographs published in the Cape Times on Mondays and Fridays give readers a wonderful idea of Cape Town's unsurpassed beauty from many unusual vantage points.

The January 8 photograph of the city bowl, cradled by the arms of our famous mountain, reveals the recent spectacular Foreshore building developments.

Most of them are situated close to the V&A Waterfront and will continue to cater for masses of visitors.

This photograph's foreground graphically reveals that Eastern Boulevard's elegant sweeping curves only partially succeed in conveying vehicles from Cape Town's eastern to its western sides.

Evening traffic congestion already occurs at the V&A's eastern entrance and this will undoubtedly deteriorate with time. Isn't it time our City Fathers (apologies to Helen Zille) think about the completion of the overhead link between Eastern and Western boulevards?

At the moment this uncompleted eyesore is only attractive to vagrants and movie stuntmen.

Bryan Williams

Claremont