Limpopo Leader - University of Limpopo

Getting from A to B in SATHE TRANSPORTATION CHALLENGEProf Obeng Mireku and Dr Oliver PageFROM LEFT Prof Obeng Mireku, Polly Boshielo and Dr Oliver Page with Turfloop campus colleaguesGauteng, for example,experiences the latter type, whererush hours have steadily extendeduntil at no time of the workingday does congestion cease.The costs of congestion arevaried and can quickly becomeserious. They include economicconsequences: people can hardlybe economically active when theyare stuck in the traffic.Environmental consequences:pollution from slow-moving trafficis becoming a severe problem.Health consequences are mademanifest through increases inrespiratory diseases andincreased incidents of road rage.Finally, logistical consequencesoccur when deliveries of goodsand services are delayed.Expanding outwards from thisfundamental critical issue, Pageidentified the major challengesfacing South African transportationsystems.Beginning with the country’sroads, he pointed out that thegrowing congestion and highaccident rates could be attributedto various factors, not least ofwhich was ‘the migration of cargofrom rail to road to a point whereonly 12 percent of freight iscarried by rail while the remaining88 percent is hauled across theroad network’. The Durban toGauteng corridor was particularlyoverloaded. Another contributingfactor to the lack of road supplywas that road-users did not payfor the true costs of road use,resulting in surface deteriorationof road infrastructure and limitednew construction. There was alsoa disparity between urban andP A G E 6