The City of Cape Town is pioneering several road innovations in South Africa, from more robust infrastructure to new public transport solutions intended to alleviate the metro’s notorious traffic issues.
This includes a new “sky circle,” eco-friendly buses, improved road crossings, vandalism-proof traffic lights, and reversible roads.
There’s even a proposal to introduce a brand-new sky train that could potentially find a use for the city’s famous unfinished bridge running through the CBD.
Sky Circle
Cape Town is currently working on a first-of-its-kind Sky Circle at the intersection of Govan Mbeki Road (M9) and Jan Smuts Drive (M17) in Lansdowne.
The completed circle will act as an elevated platform for the MyCiti public transport service, allowing its buses to bypass the normal ground-level traffic and vastly improve travel times.
The existing intersection will function as normal once the project is completed, though it is currently being treated as a traffic circle while construction takes place.
Once the sky circle is finished, the intersection will also receive new lights and pedestrian crossings to improve traffic flow throughout the area.
Electric buses
The Mother City recently took delivery of the first batch of 120 new BYD electric buses.
The buses, operated by Golden Arrow, are part of an initiative to move the city’s public transport away from diesel-burning vehicles towards electric models that are much quieter and produce no carbon emissions.
According to Golden Arrow’s Company Engineer, Gideon Neethling, the electric buses comprise 10% of the company’s fleet and have been met with very positive reception from the public thanks to the reduced air and noise pollution.
The company also revealed that it stands to save up to R657,000 per year on fuel by switching to electric, as well as save up to 50% on spare parts and 80% on oils and lubricants.
Thermal pedestrian crossings
Cape Town has installed new thermal sensors at key intersections around the metro, which can detect pedestrian movements.
If a person leaves the detection zone before the pedestrian crossing light is activated, the request will be canceled.
This is meant to improve traffic flow by preventing unnecessary stops, as it is common for people to press the button and then cross during a gap in the traffic before the light changes, leaving motorists stuck at a red light when no one is crossing.
The first four roads to benefit from this innovation include Marine Drive opposite Milky Lane, along Otto du Plessis Drive opposite Seal Road, along Otto du Plessis Drive at Shell Road, and along Otto du Plessis Drive close to Hill Road, opposite Doodles.
Tamper-proof traffic lights
South African cities are facing major issues with regards to traffic light theft and vandalism, leaving many areas without functioning signals.
Johannesburg, as one example, revealed that an estimated 20% of its 2,000 robots are out of order, and that each one requires approximately R300,000 to repair or replace.
To avoid a similar issue, Cape Town is piloting new traffic lights with “submersible chambers.”
These chambers house the robot’s core electronics as well as an uninterrupted power supply (UPS), all of which are encased in a concrete base below the ground.
The UPS ensures the lights still function when the power is out, and the concrete shells are fitted with sensors that can detect vibrations, sending out an alert to law enforcement in the event someone tries to dig the components up to sell for scrap.
Reversible roads
In June 2024, Cape Town introduced a first-for-South Africa reversible bus lane along the R27 between Loxton Road and Broad Road in Milnerton.
The lane is exclusively meant for MyCiTi vehicles and facilitates a one-way flow of traffic that reverses depending on the time of day.
In the mornings, the route flows inbound to the Civic Centre in town, which changes in the afternoon to allow outbound trips back towards the suburbs around Table View.
The city has also installed cameras at the entrance and exit of the road to detect unauthorized vehicles, reverse entry, and entry-without-exit.
If a problem is detected, the road’s bus lane signs automatically close and an alarm is sent to the transport management centre that oversees the area.
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