Tests are now being done for remedial action on a 3km slippery stretch of the Harare-Beitbridge Highway near Beatrice that has seen 11 accidents, most fatal, over the last four months when the road is wet.
Engineers suspect that the accidents arise primarily from the higher speeds now possible after the section was rebuilt, and that there could be a faulty formula in the asphalt used to surface the road.
The engineers, working together with officials from the Roads Laboratory, will undertake some tests on the road surface between the 56km and 59km pegs to establish the cause of the slipperiness.
The stretch should be safe, even with this problem, if drivers did not speed and so the authorities are now erecting speed warning signs, high accident zone signs and some rumble strips along the stretch to reduce the risk of accidents which are mostly attributed to speeding.
In an interview after touring the road, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development permanent secretary Engineer Theodius Chinyanga said since October last year, a total of 11 accidents were recorded on the stretch, with most of them being fatal.
“The reason of my visit is to really assess the cause of accidents that are happening on this section,” he said.
“Since October 2022, it is reported that the section has experienced 11 accidents, some of them fatal.
“The historical background is that this is the first section that was constructed to demonstrate the standards of the roads that we were proposing. It would have made sense if these accidents have been experienced say, soon after the section was opened, but it’s about more than three years after that. The section has been identified as a high accident zone.”
Eng Chinyanga said from investigations that had been carried out, they noted that most of the accidents were as a result of speeding.
“The first cause is said to be speeding,” he said.
“The second cause, interviewing drivers, they are talking about the slipperiness of the road and this happens especially when it has rained or it is raining or soon after the rains, that’s when drivers are reporting that the surface will be slippery.”
“Now our immediate intervention is that we are going to put speed signs, reducing our speed from 120km to 100km to 80km/h to 60km/h. We hope our drivers will comply with the speed limits. The second intervention is that we will also put signs written, ‘High Accident Zone. Reduce Speed’.
“The third intervention is speed calming devices. At the same time the engineers working together with the Roads Laboratory will undertake some tests on the surface to establish what is really the cause of the slipperiness. The contractor will be in the meantime preparing the detour, just in case we have to rip the surface.
“One reason why road surface can be slippery is what we call bleeding. What it simply means is our asphalt came with the wrong spec of bitumen or there was too much bitumen within the asphalt; those are the two major reasons why the road bleeds.
“This would be evidence especially during the hot season around August to December. It will be evident because there will be too much liquid or oil like indications on the roads surface.
“So the laboratory will also test the content of the bituminous product that we used on this section. If it so happens that we used to much or the spec bitumen is out of spec, we will then get recommendations from the laboratory and from the engineers as to what treatment we would give this section of the road.”
Eng Chinyanga said the rest of the highway had never experienced such accidents so they were speculating that people would be speeding as a result of the condition of the new road.
He applauded drivers for being careful on the highway since they were fewer accidents than they were speculating and expected.
Eng Chinyanga urged drivers to obey road signs and to also drive within the limits indicated on the road signs.
He appealed to the public to also avoid vandalising road traffic signs saying this one of the biggest problems of road signs as some of them do not even last a day after being erected.
Eng Chinyanga said in 14 or 21 days’ time they were going to construct rumble strips along the 3km stretch in order to force or alert drivers that this was a high accident zone. – The Herald
