Lansdowne residents can look forward to some upgrades in the area including parks and a MyCiTi bus route.
The bus route, running through Lansdowne, will link Khayelitsha and Mitchell’s Plain with Wynberg and Claremont.
Belmont Avenue; Lansdowne Road, between St Kilda and Taronga roads; and Turfhall Road, at the intersection with Haywood Road, will be closed for construction of the new route, while Block Road; Dalewood Road; and Racecourse Road, at the intersection with Prince Arthur Road, will be partially closed.
Ward 60 councillor Mark Kleinschmidt said the City would need to negotiate to buy all or part of 20 properties for the R193 million bus route.
Bus stations would be built along the route, and road widening should start in November 2023, Mr Kleinschmidt said.
Parks in the area would also see improvements, with better lighting, new equipment and refurbishment of existing equipment, he said.
“Unfortunately the requests for speed bumps in Mansfield, Devon, Roy and Cotte roads were denied as traffic officials did not see the necessity of it because there are no schools close to those roads. We are also looking at CCTV cameras for Wetton Circle, and within the Groenvlei and Yorkshire Estate areas,” he said.
Faieza Albertus, of Lansdowne, said speeding in the area had always been an issue as taxis used Mansfield Road to get to Wetton and Lansdowne roads.
“Speed bumps will definitely be of a great help for the road and the rest of Lansdowne because of the speeding of motorists and especially the taxis who dodge the traffic. Pupils will benefit from it because they walk down these small roads to get to school. We live here, we know what the area needs,” she said.
Jalalodien Adams, another Lansdowne resident, said he hoped the MyCiTi buses wouldn’t be full by the time they reached Lansdowne.
“A MyCiTi bus route will be beneficial to the area as many people travel by car, so if the bus picks them up, traffic will be less congested, but, of course, that depends on the space in the bus and the amount of stations on the route,“ he said.
The City needed to address speeding in Lansdowne’s smaller roads, he said.
“Speed bumps will be of great help,” he said. “In the morning, the taxis drive so fast and even form double lanes so we really need a traffic-calming measure.”