The City thanks motorists for their patience as IRT roadworks progress along the R27 and in the City Centre.

Drivers left fuming in their cars as they inch to and from work in clogged up in kilometres of snail-pace traffic, can look forward to a new transport system which will whisk them to work and back in no time at all.

This route along the R27 forms part of the first phase of IRT and will be operational by September next year. Dedicated IRT lanes and IRT stations for IRT vehicles have been built from Table View into the CBD, with cycle lanes and pedestrian areas also under construction along this trunk route.

In the City Centre, the IRT Civic Centre Station under the Civic Centre, on Hertzog Boulevard has been in operation since the start of the 2010 World Cup.

The R27 is a trunk – or main – IRT route from Atlantis all the way into the Civic Centre Station. Trunk vehicles will operate in their own lanes, in the middle of the road (the right lanes), in both directions stopping at IRT stations situated in the road’s median. Once complete the current left, or slow, lane will become the new right lane for regular traffic, while a new left lane and shoulder are being constructed. A dedicated IRT lane means that vehicles will travel faster than other vehicles particularly during the peak periods as it will not be impacted by traffic congestion. During the peak periods an IRT vehicle will leave the stations every few minutes, able to ferry up to 120 passengers per trip.

There will be pedestrian access, via pedestrian crossings, with preferential signalling for people crossing, to the IRT stations. On the left hand side of the road there will be dedicated cycle and pedestrian lanes which will be separated from regular traffic by a lane of trees.

The route will run from Atlantis into the CBD, helping to restore the apartheid planning which isolated the Atlantis and Mamre communities from the City, without providing them with a reliable transport system.

The dedicated IRT lanes on the R27 trunk route only beginw at the Table View IRT station, north of that the traffic congestion is not yet heavy enough to warrant dedicated infrastructure. The IRT vehicles will stop at stations at Sunset Beach, Milnerton’s Woodbridge Island and Boundary Road. Travelling towards the City the route crosses Milnerton bridge turning left at Milner Road, where it travels along the old disused railway siding, which has been been converted into IRT lanes, through Paarden Eiland. The IRT lanes goes over a newly constructed bridge over the Salt River Canal, with stations dotted along the way. The lanes then follows the old railway line’s path, under the N1 and through Culemborg and into the Civic Station, one of the IRT major stations.

On one stretch of road, between Boundary Road and Woodbridge Island, private property on the sides of the road do not allow enough space for dedicated lanes in both directions. There IRT vehicles travelling in an outbound direction (north) will need join regular traffic for that short section. 

Once completed the IRT system will offer motorists a real alternative to the daily bumper-to-bumper congested commute into the City. Security and customer-friendly service will be key focuses of the IRT, which will employ extra traffic law enforces and have security CCTV cameras and security guards at most of the stations. The vehicles are top quality, new vehicles that are well maintained and clean. The IRT will give Capetonians a much needed world-class public transport service.