Civil Engineering December 2022 | Vol 30 No 11

Civil Engineering December 2022 11 9 Roads B+ National roads South Africa’s road network is approximately 750 000 km long, making it the tenth longest in the world. About 160 000 km of the network are paved. SANRAL manages 21 403 km of this paved network (13% of these are toll roads), with the balance shared between provinces and municipalities. The proportion of the national road system in poor or very poor condition is below 7% thanks to SANRAL’s strong mainte- nance and expansion regimen, which is excellent by global standards. By contrast, the secondary and tertiary road network is experiencing accelerated rates of deterioration, compromising both road safety and the e ciency of moving freight. Most provincial and local road authorities do not regularly undertake or publish assessments of the condition of their road networks, and repairs are therefore typically reactive, e.g. xing potholes rather than conducting regular preventative maintenance. Moreover, maintenance and improvements are generally underfunded, and the future negative consequences of this trend on the longevity of roadways are rarely assessed. With the exception of the Western Cape, the condition of most paved provincial roads is substandard. There is a risk of further deterioration due to increased vehicle overloading, poor maintenance and the steady reduction of skilled personnel in roads departments. In major urban areas the condition of paved roads has also continued to deteriorate. While obtaining reliable road condition data for smaller municipalities was not possible, their roads generally su er from signi cant and increasing maintenance neglect. Provincial and municipal authorities share the country’s gravel roads approximately equally. Gravel roads constitute nearly 80% of the country’s road network, but few of them are in a satisfactory condition due to lack of capacity and insu cient funding. Most South Africans (73% of the population) depend heavily on public and non-motorised transport. Around 20% of workers walk all the way to their place of employment. All public transport users also require pedestrian infrastructure for their rst/last kilometre, as well as stops, stations and ranks. Statistics on infrastructure conditions for these modes are mostly unavailable, often due to a complete lack of services. This not only creates ine ciencies in public transport services, but also contributes to an extremely high road fatality rate (12 577 persons in 2021), of which over 40% are pedestrians. D Paved provincial roads D Paved roads in the major urban areas D- Other municipalities’ paved roads E Provincial and municipal unpaved roads Airports B- ACSA-owned facilities The nine major airports owned by ACSA enable more than 80% of South Africa’s international and domestic commercial air travel. ACSA pays close attention to its infrastructure in order to comply with the requirements of regulatory authorities. The devastating impact of Covid-19 on revenue streams resulted in deferral of some maintenance and expansion work as the focus shifted to safety and e ciency. Overall, aviation infrastructure remains in good condition. Ports B- Commercial ports Transnet owns nine commercial ports, namely Saldanha Bay, Cape Town, Mossel Bay, Port Elizabeth, Ngqura, East London, Durban and Richards Bay, and the much smaller Port Nolloth. Well-developed standards and regulations govern infrastructure condition assessments and the maintenance, repair and rehabilitation regimen. As a consequence, infrastructure in all the commercial ports is generally in a good condition, still performing well in meeting safety and operational standards. However, the dry docks at the ports have been relatively neglected in both maintenance and sta ng. A major refurbishment of the 12 proclaimed shing harbours in 2007 was followed by a period of neglect. Recent extensive rehabilitation and repair (not yet complete) has reversed the degradation and they are now in a generally good condition once more. B Fishing harbours Oil and gas pipelines (new) B About 50 large-diameter oil and gas pipelines link strategic centres in the country and short-distance o shore facilities, such as between the Durban single buoy mooring and the shore. Of the approximately 4 600 km of onshore pipelines, Transnet Pipelines has the largest network and carries the largest volume of product. Recognising that service interruptions hit revenue, the pipeline owners ensure that the pipes are inspected and maintained as rigorously as their (largely underground) location permits.