Cape Town - Cape Town motorists have been left frustrated with traffic delays following the closure of two lanes on the N1 near Sable Road due to Century City flooding.
The provincial Infrastructure Department says the flooding on the N1 was due to the wetland in the rail reserve close to Century City that had reached capacity during this past week’s heavy rains.
The department spokesperson, Jandre Bakker, said the wetland in the rail reserve area next to the N1 close to Century City reached capacity following multiple recent weather-related events. This causes water to back up onto the N1.
“Because the water is backing up onto the carriageway, multiple lane closures are necessary for road user safety reasons. This is causing significant tailbacks,” he said.
Bakker said the Department of Infrastructure is fully aware of the matter and it has been working on finding solutions since last week and has issued multiple advisories in this regard.
“The road is designed to ensure that water moves from one side of the N1 to the other via stormwater drainage systems. The system is running at full capacity.
“The volume of water that needs to be drained is, however, exceeding the capacity of the system. While the system is designed to handle large water volumes, the water volume is much higher as it was caused by multiple weather incidents following each other in an already saturated area,” Bakker said.
Bakker further added that there is no timeline to determine when the flooded lanes will be reopened because it depends on how quickly the water can run off and drain.
“Our engineering teams are on site and trying to find alternative ways to supplement the stormwater drainage process,” Bakker said.
As of 4pm on Monday afternoon, only the inbound land remained closed.
Bakker also advised to please be cautious, allow for extra travel time and to use alternative routes where possible.
The “Cape Argus” has reached out to the City of Cape Town for further comment; however, it has yet to respond.