| Recent floods in Mpumalanga have not created a crisis in the province’s road network, they have exposed systemic weaknesses that have developed over many years. Across the province’s secondary road network, the combined effects of ageing infrastructure, changing freight demands and increasingly intense rainfall are now visible as widespread failures. As consulting engineers who design and maintain both water and road assets across the province, we are seeing clear evidence that this network is no longer aligned with the realities it is expected to serve.
We see this challenge as an opportunity to build a more resilient, future-ready network that will serve our communities, farmers and tourism sector for generations to come.
What We Are Seeing
During heavy summer downpours, runoff volumes and flow velocities have increased beyond the capacities older drainage systems were designed to carry. Floods routinely wash away pavement edges, scour subgrade materials and create sinkholes. These problems are further compounded on our local roads, as they were not engineered for repeated heavy vehicle traffic. This problem is two-fold, with the increasing number of activities in chrome, coal and magnetite mining in the province, as well as the continued failure of the rail networks that were meant to carry these loads. These recurring failures are not isolated incidents; they point to deeper structural and planning shortcomings. |
