From those hundred or so potholes photographed by the DA, we have identified the 15 worst. To do this, we took into account both their location - that is, if they are on a major carriageway or a road with a great deal of traffic - and their size (often a signal of the amount of neglect that caused them in the first place).
The worst 15 are as follows:
1. Bolton Road (Rosebank, Johannesburg): Hidden from oncoming traffic, if you watch down Bolton Road you can see cars hitting it at speed on a regular basis.
2. Riviera Road (Killarney, Johannesburg): A mini sinkhole, across the road from the American Embassy, closer inspection suggests a large part of the road has worn away beneath it.
3. Kenville Road (Umgeni Heights, Durban): With an ANC election poster hanging over it, and on an incredibly steep hill, it has already been the cause of a number of serious accidents.
4. North East Road (KwaMashu Highway, Durban): Riddled with potholes from one end to the other, this entire stretch deserves a mention, on a double lane highway, the risk of serious accidents is acute.
5. Glenhove Drive (Killarney, Johannesburg): The biggest one of them all; started out small and then grew and grew. A natural pothole that has become a crater after municipal intervention. We call it, ‘The Big Hole'. Most disturbingly, it is on a bridge over the M1.
6. 7th Street (Parkhurst, Johannesburg): Bigger than a car.
7. Hamilton Avenue (Parkhurst, Johannesburg) A cascade of (public) water flows almost non-stop down this road and, from the top to the bottom, there are a myriad of potholes, each one developing at an exponential rate.
8. Cowell Road (Forrest Town, Johannesburg): A block or two from the President's private residence, this monster takes up so much of the road one has to go into the oncoming traffic lane to get round it.
9. Kafue Road (Emmerentia, Johannesburg): A tree has started to grow out of it.
10. Dukuzu Road (KwaMashu, Durban): At the bottom of a dip, a road used almost exclusively by taxis, this huge trench is a very serious threat.
11. Thorn Road (Austerville, Durban): A huge, half man-made, half naturally developed scar that takes up a third of the road. The metal water point that sticks out of the middle of it is particularly dangerous.
12. River Street (Killarney, Johannesburg): Another huge pothole, just down the road from the American Embassy.
13. Greenside Road (Emmerentia, Johannesburg): Much like the River Street pothole, no doubt the creation of some long-forgotten municipal intervention, after the rain it resembles a small lake, easily as big as a small car.
14. Woolraad Road (Austerville, Durban): Not strictly a pothole. Just the small matter of a large section of the road itself gone missing.
15. The Valley Road (Westcliff, Johannesburg): A major linking road that runs from Jan Smuts down to Melville, this humdinger is currently protected by a single traffic beacon, and has been for about a month.
This is an extract from a recent Democratic Alliance report on the pothole crisis in Johannesburg and Durban. The full statement can be accessed here.
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
