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Upgrading of the N2 between Grahamstown and the Fish
Construction of Phase 1 of the upgrade of the N2 Section 13 between Grahamstown and the Fish River Pass is nearing completion and Phase 2 commenced in May 2017 . The South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited ( SANRAL ) has awarded WBHO Construction the second phase and Bosch Projects , as a joint venture partner , continues to provide consulting engineering services .
The first phase of the 3-phase project from 62km to 68km , valued at R380m , is nearing completion . For this section , approximately 900 000m 3 of earthworks were undertaken , including the stockpiling of blasted rock for future phases . Other major components of the works included 300 000m 3 of layerworks , 13km of subsoil drains , 2km of concrete pipe culverts , 100 headwalls and grid inlets , and 240 000m 2 of 19mm Cape seal surfacing .
An important component of the project was the development of the local community and emerging subcontractors .
Local emerging subcontractors were employed on the main contract and completed approximately 4 000m 2 of stone pitching and 13km ( 3 700m 3 ) of concrete side drain .
The upgrading of the Pikoli Bypass was included in the contract as a labour-intensive community development project . The bypass was a gravel road on the Peddie side of the Fish River that starts at the Fish River Bridge and ends at the top of the Fish River Pass . The new surface road , to a safer and improved alignment , will be used as a bypass during the Phase 3 construction contract when the existing Fish River Pass is closed for upgrading . The road traverses approximately 2.7km of steep , rocky terrain , which necessitated substantial blasting to achieve the required design levels .
The value of this section of work was R26m and 43 people from the local Pikoli community were employed and trained to undertake the work , which included 2.5km of subsoil drains , 400m of concrete pipe culverts , 40 outlet structures , 2km of concrete side drains , 2.5km of concrete kerbing and 2 900m 3 of waterbound macadam base .
In order to provide further employment and development of local emerging subcontractors , a 3m wide non-motorised transport ( NMT ) path was designed to run adjacent to the N2 , starting at the N2 / R67 intersection for a length of 5.2km , and following the natural gradient of the existing surface . Fifteen local emerging subcontractors were appointed through a formal tender process to undertake this work . They were provided with NQF Level 2 training
Road Upgrade - Cross over from existing alignment to temporary deviation