driefontein road upgrade

The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform required a civil engineering consultancy firm to provide project management, design, and construction monitoring services for the upgrade of a gravel road (Road D2237) between Driefontein and Donkerhoek, to an asphalt surfaced road. In addition, the appointed service provider was required to act as an occupational health and safety agent on behalf of the department and to manage the geotechnical investigations and topographical survey.

Delta BEC was appointed to provide civil engineering services for the Driefontein Road upgrade project.

The road that needed to be upgraded was a 6.8 km gravel road that links Driefontein and Donkerhoek in Mpumalanga Province. It was a dual lane carriageway, undivided road which was originally 9 m wide. The road showed signs of distress, mainly due to erosion and corrugation, which was observed over the entire length of the road. The required works included road widening, the reconstruction of road layers, asphalt or block paved surfacing, and improvement of the very dilapidated stormwater drainage system.

The department required that the upgrade of the road produce certain benefits such as facilitating economic and social development within the surrounding communities by supporting cooperatives and local business, improving access and mobility within the community, and creating construction job opportunities.

naledi pedestrian and vehicular bridge

The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) has extensive plans to repair and upgrade road infrastructure in the city. As part of this initiative, plans were put in place to build a vehicular and pedestrian bridge between two historically separated but very closely interlinked communities, namely Naledi and Protea North in Soweto.

The bridge had to accommodate vehicular and pedestrian movement between Protea, situated to the south of the railway line, and Naledi, situated to the north of the railway line, and provide safe passage for pedestrians moving across the railway line during peak hour traffic.

Delta BEC was appointed for the rendering of professional services for the design and implementation of a bridge structure to accommodate pedestrians and vehicles. In addition, Delta BEC acted as the health and safety agent, and also provided construction supervision and contract administration services.

Delta BEC designed a bridge superstructure that could be built with minimum impact on the PRASA operational trains. Provision was also made to double the railway lines in the future. Pre-cast, pre-tensioned concrete beams were placed over the railway lines during operational hours. Eskom had to relocate their existing electrical cables to accommodate the new road infrastructure to ensure compliance with minimum vertical clearances between the bottom of the electrical cables and the top of the road surface. Delta BEC facilitated the involvement of relevant stakeholders to mitigate any possible delays.

watson highway link road

Dube TradePort is a 2 840 ha development in La Mercy, Durban, which comprises the King Shaka International Airport, a TradeZone which is a specialist freight-orientated and multi-modal logistics platform, Dube City which is a modern Green hub, home to Dube TradePort’s head office, other offices, retail space and leisure facilities, and an AgriZone which is a high-tech agricultural development. Dube TradePort has been described as one of Africa’s top 10 investment opportunities.

Delta BEC was appointed as engineering professionals for planning, design, project management, and construction supervision of the new 3.6 km Watson Highway Link Road project. This road connects the airport and TradeZone with the Watson Highway (uShukela Highway), providing Tongaat residents improved access to the airport as well as providing the TradeZone with direct access to the N2 highway to the north. The purpose of this project was to expand the strategic road system for the entire Dube TradePort Development Zone resulting in significant accessibility improvements.

The Watson Highway Link Road is expected to have a high proportion of heavy goods vehicles, given the nature of the proposed land-uses, and a structural design of 20 years was implemented to accommodate this. The drainage design is a sustainable system and is expected to provide significant cost saving over traditional pipe drainage systems. The stormwater system consists of combined surface, road and pipe systems.