Friends of Helderberg Estate, Somerset West
The application by Helderberg College to develop a housing estate at the top of Helderspruit Road has now been advertised and can be viewed at the municipality. The deadline for objections is Thursday March 30.
The application includes a traffic impact assessment.
This assessment estimates that the new development is likely to generate an additional 73 peak hour trips in and out of Helderberg Estate on to Irene Avenue.
To quote the report: “these trips are expected to have minimal impact on the surrounding streets and do not result in any decline in levels of service at the intersections”.
It would be interesting to hear whether those residents of Somerset West who use Irene on a daily basis agree with this statement?
Furthermore, the application proposes a roundabout at the intersection between Irene and Harewood.
This means that traffic turning right onto Irene from Harewood will have priority, thus backing up Irene even further.
The erection of the roundabout will cause additional disruption while the works are being completed.
The traffic survey was carried out on June 21, which was in the last week of school term at a time when many pupils had finished exams and were not attending school.
It is also a time of year when many residents of Helderberg Estate are overseas.
The survey looks only at the impact of commuter traffic once the estate has been completed. Over and above this we need to consider the 50 000 to 100 000 construction traffic movements which will take place during the building process (the letter from PJ Maud dated January 18 refers).
We urge residents of Somerset West who use Irene on a regular basis to email their objections to the municipality at comments_objections.helderberg@capetown.gov.za, and copy friends
ofhelderbergestate@gmail.com
