The Western Cape transport department has identified seven dangerous level crossings that needed to be upgraded to prevent serious accidents, says an official.
"It is with enormous gratitude to my department's roads branch and to Metrorail Western Cape that I am able to announce that we will together be eliminating seven level crossings, including... [those] ranked by the task team as the most dangerous in the province," said transport and public works MEC Robin Carlisle in a statement.
The most dangerous crossing in the province was at Koelenhof.
"A bridge is to be built on Bottelary/Kromme Rhee Road over the railway line, with pedestrian access below," said Carlisle.
This project was currently in its inception phase.
In June next year, the Vlaeberg road, where four people were killed in January 2007, will be re-aligned to a new point on the R304 and a bridge will be constructed over the railway line.
"The existing service road will be surfaced, allowing us to eliminate a further four small crossings right next to the R304, including the Lynedoch crossing. The project will also see the R304 substantially upgraded. Environmental approval is expected before the end of 2011, and we will go to tender early in 2012," said Carlisle.
He said he had ordered the appointment of the level crossing task team a year ago, after a taxi crash at the Buttskop level crossing in Blackheath killed 10 children.
On Wednesday, 14 children and a bus driver when a bus plunged into a dam in Knysna.
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