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B u r g e r Wednesday 11 April 2012
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This container truck was photographed travelling along Koeberg Road on Saturday. Pouring rain cau sed parts of the road to flood. Residents along Otto du Plessis Drive hope these vehicles could be forced by the council to make use of an alternative route. Photo: Dave Colins
) Reroute of container trucks proposed
Other road for heavy load LEON STEENKAMP
Local residents hope a proposal to reroute heavy-load traffic from Otto du Plessis Drive will be favourably received by the city council. The driving force behind the proposal is Milnerton resident Powell Platt whose property fronts onto Otto du Plessis Drive. “In recent times there has been an increasing disturbance from
traffic on this road, and in particular from one specific category of vehicle – these truck tractors hauling containers between Cape Town harbour and the SATI container depot in Killarney Gardens,” Platt wrote in a letter to the city. Platt says the continual operation of these vehicles at all hours of the day and night causes a tremendous noise nuisance. “Irrespective of whether they are carrying full or empty containers, they are extremely noisy road users
and each passing truck can be distinctly heard. Empty containers rattle on their trailers and as the road deteriorates, this is getting worse,” he says. Platt adds it is not only the physical force of these vehicles travelling that create a disturbance but their engines as well. “Many of these truck tractors are older models, with Cummings engines resulting in excessive noise generated from their exhaust brakes. The thudding noise as these brakes are applied can be heard from a dis-
tance and in terms of decibels of these older vehicles at 109Db is equivalent to a jet taking off. The World Hearing Authority offers 75Db as a safe level and a busy street at 80Db,” he explains. He says this noise negatively affects individuals living, working, learning or visiting a property facing this road. “As an example 15 rigs have been counted in a 20 minute period, and it is not uncommon that over an extended five hours they will run con-
WEST COAST VILLAGE OPENING END APRIL www.starkeayresgc.co.za
tinuously at seven minute intervals in either direction. They have been heard from 03:50 in the morning until after midnight.” Platt says the widening of the road to accommodate the MyCiTi bus lanes have also brought the traffic some three metres closer to every home. Owners now complain of wall mounted pictures shifting, walls cracking and windows vibrating due to the air displacement caused by these big rigs passing by. . To page 3.