Johannesburg's deteriorating roads: 'I don't think there's a street here without a pothole'

702's Bongani Bingwa interviews Avi Menon, Vice President of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering.

Listen below:

The state of Johannesburg's roads, and South African roads in general, is an ongoing concern, with issues ranging from potholes and stolen or malfunctioning traffic lights to deteriorating road surfaces.

Menon attributes the problem to the country's ageing infrastructure.

He explains that much of the infrastructure was built decades ago, and with South Africa's growing population, it can no longer accommodate the increasing demand.

In addition to this, he highlights poor maintenance as a significant factor – evidenced by grass growing along the roads, debris scattered on the streets, not to mention the potholes.

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"I don't think there's a street here in Joburg without a pothole. There are potholes everywhere."

- Avi Menon, Vice President – South African Institution of Civil Engineering

Menon says that while some potholes are patched with cosmetic fixes, this approach only works when the damage is superficial. 

Once the road's base layers start to fail, a mere cosmetic upgrade is not enough, and the problem will persist. 

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In such cases, Menon stresses that the entire road must be stripped down and rebuilt from the ground up.

However, the real question remains: Is there sufficient funding available for these extensive repairs and upgrades?

"We're not doing sufficient maintenance on our infrastructure."

- Avi Menon, Vice President – South African Institution of Civil Engineering

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.