Johannesburg — Motorists are advised to be vigilant of construction traffic which will access and exit the construction site of the Gautrain viaduct bridge on the Modderfontein road, near Germiston.

Bombela Concession Company Marketing and Communications Manager, Chantal Ramcharan said the Bombela construction team is implementing temporary road deviations on Modderfontein road in preparation for the concrete bridge. Information boards and temporary signage will guide the flow of traffic during these activities. Ms Ramcharan said the construction will take approximately seven months to be completed and it will be carried out in four phases.

"These deviation phases will be implemented within the vicinity of the construction site for the viaduct bridge while the rest of Modderfontein Road will remain unchanged," she said.

The first phase commenced at the beginning of May and will continue until the end of July 2008.

Excavation works is taking place next to the east and westbound carriageways of Modderfontein road, while a portion of the extreme left hand lane is closed on the westbound carriageway.

Traffic is allowed to rejoin the extreme left hand lane after the New Jersey barriers.

The eastbound carriageway will see a portion of the shoulder (emergency) lane temporarily closed for the duration of construction.

The second phase will commence in July 2008 until September 2008. This phase will focus on the construction of the pier structures that will support the future viaduct bridge.

Construction will take place on the Modderfontein road median. This will result in the closure of the two existing lanes of the eastbound carriageway.

Traffic will be deviated onto two new lanes on the shoulder of the road. The two westbound lanes next to the central median will be closed and traffic will be temporarily deviated onto part of the existing third and shoulder lanes. During the third phase, which commences in September until end of November 2008, the construction of the deck of the bridge will start. Construction, in this phase, will take place over the eastbound carriageway and the central median.

The existing eastbound carriageway will be completely closed off in the vicinity of the bridge. The westbound carriageway will be converted into four lanes, two of which will accommodate eastbound traffic and the other two lanes will accommodate westbound traffic.

The last phase which will commence in November will end in January 2009 and this phase will see the construction of the deck of the bridge over the westbound carriageway.

During this phase, the existing westbound carriageway will be completely closed off in the vicinity of the bridge.

The eastbound carriageway will be converted into four lanes - two lanes each, accommodating traffic flowing eastbound and westbound respectively.