Windhoek’s busiest streets get facelifts

Millions will be poured into the upgrading and maintenance of ageing roads in Windhoek. A total of 34 streets covering 25 km will be resurfaced when the project of the City of Windhoek starts in the middle of this month. The annual resurfacing tender has been awarded to Tau Pele Construction Namibia and the project is to be completed by September. Some of the streets will be fully resurfaced while only sections of others will be repaired. According to the spokesperson of the City of Windhoek, Joshua Amukugo, the contract will mainly focus on busy streets. “Most of them are main roads or roads in industrial and business areas with heavy vehicle traffic and turning movements.” These roads include Independence Avenue, Hosea Kutako Drive, Florence Nightingale Road and Robert Mugabe Avenue. Amukugo said the old surfaces will be removed before new surface layers are poured. He explained that as a road ages the sealing layer dries out and loses its elasticity and waterproofing properties. “Distress can be seen as cracks on the road surface as [there is] aggregate loss from the surfacing seal.” According to Amukugo the traffic also polishes the aggregate in the sealing layer and the road becomes more slippery in wet weather. “Continuous heavy traffic and overloaded vehicles place a tremendous amount of stress on the upper foundation layers and this distress can be seen as an uneven surface.” He said the type of sealing layer depends on the type and volume of traffic as well as whether there are a lot of turning movements. The cost ranges from N$360 000 per kilometre for a 6.7 mm single seal to N$1.3 million per kilometre for a 35 mm premix overlay. According to Amukugo in cases where the upper foundation layers of the road have deformed, either due to the ingress of water or continuous heavy traffic, the material can be recycled and cement added to increase the strength and bitumen to increase the water resistance. The cost to recycle the upper layer amounts to about N$2.1 million per kilometre and then a new surfacing layer still needs to be placed on top of it. He said in cases where a road has been allowed to fail completely the only option is to reconstruct it completely at a cost of at least N$5.7 million per kilometre. The City also awarded a contract to Maketo Construction Company to tar 14 gravel roads in Wanaheda Extension 7 and 8. The contract is worth N$15 million. The earth work in some streets started in January and will be completed by December. WINDHOEK ELLANIE SMIT