City-SANRAL cooperation on maintenance and management of traffic signals

21 January 2026

The City’s Urban Mobility Directorate intends to, upon Council’s approval, enter into an agreement with SANRAL Western Cape to maintain and manage traffic signals on national roads that are located within Cape Town. The Mayoral Committee has, at its meeting yesterday, given its support to the directorate to enter into this agreement that follows on other short-term agreements with SANRAL for the maintenance of the signalised intersections. This item will serve before Council for consideration and approval at the end of the month

The City’s Mayoral Committee has given its support to the Urban Mobility Directorate to enter into an implementation agreement with the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) for the maintenance and management of 32 signalised intersections for a period of three years. The directorate will go ahead with this agreement once Council has also given its approval at its meeting at the end of the month.

SANRAL will remain responsible for all of the costs related to the construction, maintenance, and operation of the traffic signals at these intersections.

The 32 signalised intersections are located along sections of national roads that are owned and managed by SANRAL, namely:

• the R300 between the N2 and the N1 highways
• the N2 highway between the R300 and the R102
• the N1 highway from the R300 towards the east

The City currently maintains and manages about 1 560 signalised intersections on the municipal road network.

‘The City has four traffic signal maintenance depots across Cape Town that are responsible for the signals that fall within their areas. We also have dedicated staff who are experts in traffic signal efficiencies and are responsible for sequencing, alignment, and timing to ensure the traffic flow along major transport networks are optimised.

‘We are grateful that the Mayoral Committee has given us their blessing for the intended agreement with SANRAL and trust that the City Council will do the same. Road users will benefit significantly from this inter-governmental cooperation because it will allow us to respond to faults at SANRAL signals and do component upgrades that will improve the operational efficiencies of the signals at these intersections and keep Cape Town moving,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility, Councillor Rob Quintas.

The proposed agreement will determine the City and SANRAL’s obligations, including the cost of materials and labour, upgrades and new installations for a period of 36 months. SANRAL’s signals are part of the area traffic control network and monitored from the Transport Management Centre.

The City is working closely with SANRAL who is also operating and maintaing the Freeway Management System on behalf of the three road authorities responsible for the freeways in Cape Town, namely the City, the Western Cape Government, and SANRAL.

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office