Humanitarian pothole fixers, namely the St Francis Bay trio of Barry, Craig and Trevor, have completed the resurfaced road from Humansdorp to the Lombardini/Paradise turnoff, thanks to donations from the community.
On Monday next week, they will continue to the Kromme Bridge to hopefully reach as far as the traffic circle where a lot of new holes have opened up. These will all be cut, plugged and compacted depending on the size of the hole.
“We have now received R264 286 in donations, says Barry, spokesman for the trio.
“We have paid our contractor R22 606 to date, inclusive of today. This leaves us with just short of three more full days to complete the project as far as logistically possible.
“Unfortunately, as fast as we repair potholes, new ones open up, especially after days like Monday and Tuesday where we had heavy rain. The number of heavy trucks on the R330, specifically from the groyne project, as well as other construction and commercial trucks, makes this a long term losing battle.
Yesterday the team members worked on the section alongside the dairy farm today plugging and cutting the smaller holes “It was a monumental task due to the shocking structural condition of that section of road,”Barry says.
“Unfortunately, as fast as we repair potholes, new ones open up, especially after days like Monday and Tuesday this week where we had heavy rain. The number of heavy trucks on the R330, specifically from the groyne project, as well as other construction and commercial trucks, make this a long-term, losing battle.
“We will then continue towards Cape St Francis to repair the potholes up to the first speed bump, including the large one at the speed bump. If capacity exists by Wednesday to continue past the speed bump, we will do so.
“As previously mentioned, more potholes will start to appear continuously but hopefully the current repairs have made it a lot easier and safer to traverse the R330. In the event that new potholes become dangerous, we will start a new donations drive to get our contractor in for additional repairs,” Barry added.
The St Francis community has lauded the the pothole-fixers work this past month of April, and the safer road on social media, praising them for rolling up their sleeves and doing the jobs themselves, owing to little or incomplete, no-win repairs by those officially responsible for fixing that dangerous road, riddled with potholes.
Those who are able to donate funds to enable the trio and contractors to finish the pothole repair project and save lives are most welcome to do so. Here is the bank account again: Barry Buchman, First National Bank, 62786099004.
St Francis Chronicle 