Pothole brigade packs up

The partnership between the City and the Dial Direct Pothole Brigade has come to an end, after tens of thousands of potholes were filled.
THE Dial Direct Pothole Brigade, a two-pronged partnership between the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) and the private sector, has come to an end with just under 35 000 potholes repaired on Joburg’s roads.

Filling potholesFilling potholesThe pothole brigade will no longer be responsible for repairing potholes on roads inside the N14 from Rooihuiskraal to Krugersdorp, down to Roodepoort, across to Germiston, on to Bedfordview, up to Sandton across to Olifantsfontein and back to Rooihuiskraal, explains Sam Swaine, the media director of Heart PR, publicists for Dial Direct.

Swaine says motorists should now report potholes in JRA areas directly to the agency on hotline@jra.org.za. The JRA is a City-owned entity responsible for the construction and resurfacing of municipal roads, construction of bridges, building and managing culverts and storm water drains, maintenance of road infrastructure, traffic lights, road markings and signage.

However, he says the pothole brigade will continue working with the Gauteng provincial department of roads and transport in the greater Johannesburg area on outlying main roads, and will soon announce a new area of operation.

Dial Direct Insurance senior executive, Bradley du Chenne, says the pilot project was an enormous success and just under 35 000 potholes were repaired in and around Johannesburg. The JRA will now have to formalise procedures and framework structures and incorporate the repair of potholes into a tender process.

“It was a pleasure assisting them with their mammoth task of repairing the potholes and we look forward to supporting them in future possible partnerships,” Du Chenne says.

Some of the roads that have been patched as part of the operation are M16 – Linksfield Road, M90 – CR Swart Road, M57 – Pretoria Road, R512 – Malibongwe Drive, M6 – Cedar Road, R511 – William Nicol Drive, M26 – Main Road and R562 – Olifantsfontein Road, to list a few.

Task force
The Dial Direct Pothole Brigade, a special task force comprising provincial and local government departments and two private entities, had been organised to deal with Joburg’s ever-increasing potholes. It was launched as a pilot project in August 2010. Its work supplemented that already done by the JRA and the Gauteng provincial government.

The brigade urges motorists who identify potholes on Gauteng roads to report them either online or by dialling *120*1551# from a cellphone and following the onscreen instructions or via the mobile site, potholebrigade.mobi.

Once a pothole has been reported to the brigade, a reference number, which can be used to track its repair status, will be sent to the person making the report. You will also be able to opt in for updates via SMS or email.

Reported potholes will be inspected and if the Dial Direct Pothole Brigade can repair them, they will be filled using the Jetpatcher, a large articulated vehicle that carries aggregate and hot asphalt for patching up or repairing potholes.

If the pothole is within the brigade’s area of operation and scope of repair, they will fix it, Swaine says; however, if it is beyond the brigade’s scope of repair, the details will be sent on to either the JRA or the provincial department of roads and transport.

“If the cause or extent of the damage deems the pothole irreparable it will be reported to the relevant roads agency,” he adds.