I work in Simondium and have contacted the municipality about this problem, but to no avail, not even a response to my emails. This forces me to raise my concerns on a public platform.
I drive the Simondium road from the direction of Paarl every morning and late afternoon, and the traffic is ridiculous.
To get to the Simondium road I take the N1 off-ramp (close to Strawberry King) onto Paarl Main Road/Old Paarl Road and from there follow the road to the Simondium turn off.
Now I am sure I do not have to tell you about Paarl traffic in the morning. Many motorists come down Paarl Main Road to get to the N1 so there is a constant flow down the R45. Many people come into Paarl from the Klapmuts side using Old Paarl Road, so there are always cars coming from that side. Resulting in a constant flow in both directions.
So to get off onto the N1 off ramp and then to try and get onto Paarl main road becomes a nightmare. There is a pile-up every morning on the N1 off-ramp. There is a pile-up from the Main Road’s side for motorists wanting to turn right onto the N1.
There are cars taking the off-ramp and turning left, only to go make a U-turn further down the road to get onto the Main Road heading out of Paarl.
The intersection is therefore not only time-consuming, but also very dangerous.
I think traffic lights there would be so beneficial to the safety of motorists as well as helping the flow of traffic.
With the influx of housing developments in Paarl and the increase in people commuting on the roads, we constantly need to look at ways to alleviate the bottlenecks all over Paarl.
