Gautrans guidelines for the provision of pedestrian and bicycle facilities on provincial roads in Gauteng

Abstract

Paper presented at the 22nd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 14 - 16 July 2003 "National issues affecting the movement of people and goods - strategic approaches", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa. ABSTRACT: Provincial roads mostly provide strategic links between different regions and are characterised by a reasonable level of mobility and dispersed accesses. Facilities for non-motorised traffic are sparse and generally not provided for. These characteristics as well as the need to plan towards alternative modes of transport as a component of a congestion management strategy, led Gautrans to initiate an investigation for the development of provincial guidelines to cater for non-motorised transport. The urban sprawl characterising the majority of South Africa’s centres of economic activity, has resulted in some of these provincial roads changing their functionality and level in the overall road hierarchy. Urban areas filled in available land along former rural-type roads and thereby changed their functionality and road hierarchy. Many examples exist where provincial roads now operate as normal urban collector arterials or even as local distributor roads. This fundamental change brought about the need to incorporate planning and revised standards that cater for other modes of transport and in particular, non-motorised transport (cyclists and pedestrians). The guideline document currently under development by the Department of Transport (National Department of Transport, 2002. Pedestrian and Bicycle Facility Guidelines: Manual to Plan, Design and Maintain Safe Pedestrian Facilities) will serve as overall manual for the detail design and specification of non-motorised facilities. The focus of the provincial guideline document on cycles and pedestrians, however, will be on guidelines and measures to promote safe, reliable and efficient infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists moving along provincial roadways within the South African roads context, with particular focus on rural and regional roads incorporated into the urban environs as a result of urbanisation. The focus of the provincial document concerns current on-street realities and how to deal with these. The presence of cyclists and pedestrians is not preferred on higher order mobility roads,, and by developing this document Gautrans by no means intend to promote this. The presence of these modes, however, is a reality on many provincial roadways, and guidelines are presented to deal with these.