Gqeberha is set to be the nerve centre of a R405m intelligent transport system (ITS) that will monitor the SA National Roads Agency’s road network between Nelson Mandela Bay, Buffalo City and the King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality.
Integrating CCTV and pan tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras, floating data from cellphones which track movement of vehicles and other traffic observation measures will link into the new Traffic Management Centre (TMC) connecting the N2 and other routes within the municipalities.
The centre will conduct 24/7 surveillance on the roads for traffic violations such as speeding, as well as monitor vandalism and crime at hotspot areas such as the R75 and R335 in Gqeberha.
The first phase of the project, running along the N2 connecting to the M4 in the city, is expected to go live by the end of August.
On Tuesday, transport minister Barbara Creecy conducted an oversight visit of the newly built TMC at Sanral’s regional offices.
She was accompanied by deputy minister Mkhuleko Hlengwa and Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane and Sanral chief executive Reginald Demana, who also later visited the R335, which is undergoing an R874m upgrade.
Sanral southern region manager Mbulelo Peterson said the identified routes were selected not only to zoom in on roads with heavy traffic but also to monitor thousands of kilometres of the province’s road network.
“We will do a lot of things like average speed over distance, conduct security and even zoom into areas that are snow-prone,” he said.
“We will be able to do that by working with our stakeholders, police, Metro Police, traffic officers, municipalities and disaster management agencies in the various regions to make sure we are proactive when certain events happen,” he said.
Section 1 of the project involved the monitoring of Nelson Mandela Bay.
Buffalo City comprised section 2, while the King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality encompassed section 3.
Complete surveillance of the Bay is expected to be possible by the end of April 2026.
The ITS will later be expanded to remote parts of the province and passes that have been identified as hazardous.
In the interim, Sanral has been in discussion with the municipality to monitor identified traffic signals on the R75 for signs of vandalism.
Creecy said the ITS was proof that Sanral was serious about providing safe road networks.
“When I met the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber [on Monday], they raised concerns with the R335, and what we can see is that [there] will be cameras that will watch the highways,” she said.
The 25km upgrades on the artery road connecting the Sundays River municipality to the Port of Ngqura are due to be completed in 2027.
“The N2, which runs from Cape Town to Durban, is very important in terms of opening up the economy and building our road freight infrastructure.
“The speed control system that we will be building along the R61 is for safety because that is one of the roads we are most concerned about.
“We have had very serious accidents, particularly from long-distance taxis that travel on that route.”
The Herald
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