Residents cry foul as Emeris chokes Sandown traffic

Traffic congestion around the newly established Emeris campus in Sandown has reached unsustainable levels according to residents, who say since the campus opened the surrounding infrastructure is overwhelmed. The Sandton Chronicle visited the area on Tuesday before the afternoon rush, where traffic along Grayston Drive and the surrounding arterial roots was heavily congested. Vehicles attempting to enter the campus created a backlog stretching along residential roads and towards Rivonia Road.

Jill Hagley, a Strathavon resident of more than 30 years, said the situation has deteriorated significantly since the campus opened. “I’m deeply concerned about the traffic impact that the new university, Emeris, is having on the residents. As you can see, the traffic surrounding Emirates is extreme.

“The traffic on Grayston Drive is absolutely gridlocked. Students are trying to get into the campus, where inadequate parking has been made available. They block Grayston Drive as they try to enter Emeris, creating a gridlock situation all the way back to the highway going south, and all the way up to Rivonia Road going north.

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“These arterial roads in Sandton were already gridlocked before they opened Emeris. Grayston Drive, Katherine Street, Rivonia Road, and South Road are all totally congested, particularly during peak hour traffic. Peak hour traffic has now extended, resulting in huge congestion.

There is no way that they can admit more students into Emeris, while they don’t have a plan for parking.” Hagley said the campus currently accommodates approximately 4 000 students, with plans to increase that number to 9 000 by the end of the year and a long-term vision of 13 000 students. She claims the site was previously used as a conference centre with an auditorium accommodating roughly 400 people. “13 000 students on the same campus without any rezoning or any upgrades to infrastructure is simply unsustainable.” Hagley added that inadequate parking inside the campus is forcing students to park in surrounding residential streets, including Weber Road, a narrow, single-lane road directly opposite the campus.

“The students simply don’t have adequate parking. You also notice that they are parking on residential streets, in front of driveways, preventing residents from leaving their homes. The situation is unsustainable.

It cannot continue to go on. “Webber Road is completely backed up with parking, and that’s causing an issue for Grayston Preparatory School and Sandown High School.” Hagley also raised concerns about whether sufficient traffic impact and engineering studies were conducted prior to the campus expansion. “It’s unacceptable that an entire residential area is impacted due to poor planning, a lack of proper traffic impact assessment studies, and a lack of general engineering studies that have been submitted.” She added that a number of residents have been in touch with the Emeris campus to try and understand what their future plans are to make provision for parking for the students, with very unsatisfactory responses. “Apparently the cost of the campus is R420m, but they did not do underground parking simply because of the expense attached to that construction.”

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