New Robert Mugabe Avenue opened

THE Mayor of Windhoek, Matheus Shikongo, opened the Robert Mugabe Avenue extension yesterday.Motorists can only use the new road from Friday, though, as some finishing touches still need to be done.

Transport engineers of the City of Windhoek identified future traffic congestion from the northern suburbs over the Simon de Witt Bridge into the city centre in the early 1990s. This initiated the planning of the extension of Robert Mugabe Avenue into a four-lane dual carriageway up to Hosea Kutako Avenue.Construction started in 2003, with the N$111 million tender awarded to Grinaker/LTA.Because the new road runs next to two schools, two noise-barrier walls were built on each side of the road.The extension includes a pedestrian bridge across the dual carriageway which links Eros Girls’ School and Eros Primary School so that the pupils can cross the street safely.Other major constructions include a bridge over the railway line next to the Simon de Witt Bridge, a bridge over Sheffield Street in the Northern Industrial Area and a bridge over Etna Street, providing an all-weather link across the Klein Windhoek River, and an off-ramp from Robert Mugabe Avenue to the Northern Industrial Area.A traffic circle behind the Fire Brigade was added later.A river channel was designed to reroute the flow of the Klein Windhoek River.This work was out-sourced to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).In front of Kenya House, the double lanes change into a single lane.According to the consultants, this was the only option open to them at the time.Future extensions will take care of this problem, the municipality says.The future work will turn the whole of Robert Mugabe Avenue into a dual carriageway starting at Hosea Kutako Avenue and running past the new State House.This initiated the planning of the extension of Robert Mugabe Avenue into a four-lane dual carriageway up to Hosea Kutako Avenue.Construction started in 2003, with the N$111 million tender awarded to Grinaker/LTA.Because the new road runs next to two schools, two noise-barrier walls were built on each side of the road.The extension includes a pedestrian bridge across the dual carriageway which links Eros Girls’ School and Eros Primary School so that the pupils can cross the street safely.Other major constructions include a bridge over the railway line next to the Simon de Witt Bridge, a bridge over Sheffield Street in the Northern Industrial Area and a bridge over Etna Street, providing an all-weather link across the Klein Windhoek River, and an off-ramp from Robert Mugabe Avenue to the Northern Industrial Area.A traffic circle behind the Fire Brigade was added later.A river channel was designed to reroute the flow of the Klein Windhoek River.This work was out-sourced to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).In front of Kenya House, the double lanes change into a single lane.According to the consultants, this was the only option open to them at the time.Future extensions will take care of this problem, the municipality says.The future work will turn the whole of Robert Mugabe Avenue into a dual carriageway starting at Hosea Kutako Avenue and running past the new State House.