By Nangamso Mabindla
9 July 2004

THE Buffalo City municipality is constructing a traffic circle where Edge and Bonza roads meet, which will improve traffic flow in the East London suburb of Beacon Bay.

Last year the municipality opened a new off-ramp to make access to Beacon Bay from the N2 easier. The off-ramp was to allow for a 15 percent increase in the number of visitors to the Beacon Bay Retail Park.

In anticipation of this growth the municipality installed traffic lights at the retail park intersection - the first phase of this project. The new traffic-calming circles form part of the second phase.

Motorists joining Bonza Road from Edge Road will soon find it easier to join the traffic flow without risking a major accident.

"Bonza Road is a very busy road. Motorists found it very difficult to join the traffic flow, often risking an accident," says the City's communications manager, Darby Gounden.

"With the construction of the circle that pressure will be eliminated."

Gounden says the addition of a fourth lane in Bonza Road will ensure a smoother flow of traffic.

He says the construction work, which took the City's department of roads and design three months to complete, cost R800 000.

Once the road changes have been completed, the municipality will build a cycle lane and a pavement for pedestrians.

"We are really excited about this project. It will mean fewer risks for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. We intend making the city a safe place for its people," Gounden says.

The municipality also constructed a traffic circle at the intersection of Amalinda Main Road and Frere Hospital.

"If you think about the amount of traffic on Amalinda Main Road in the afternoon, it was appropriate to construct a circle at that dangerous intersection," says Gounden.

"Since we put the circle there we have not heard of any accident reports there."

The City's next assignment will be to build an on-ramp to take vehicles from Beacon Bay on to the N2 in the direction of Gonubie.

This was announced by Buffalo City's deputy mayor, Des Halley, at the opening of the Beacon Bay off-ramp last October.