An aerial view showing the location of where the new bridge is being built at Waterfall City, Midrand.
Driving through Midrand will soon be a whole lot easier thanks to a new R160 million highway overpass bridge being constructed by Waterfall City.
The new Bridal Veil Road Overpass Bridge is being developed by Atterbury Property Development and engineers, AECOM, for and on behalf of Attacq, exclusive holder of the development rights to the prestigious Waterfall City.
The major investment for this new overpass is part of the infrastructure development within Waterfall City, the largest ‘greenfield’ urban concept development in South Africa. Strategically located between Midrand and Sandton, Waterfall is positioned to become one of the strongest and most successful nodes in the country.
Situated south of the Allandale interchange and north of the Buccleuch interchange, the overpass will create a direct link between Midrand and Waterfall City, opening up an important route that will make travelling easier and faster for the growing number of people who live and work in this leading-edge Gauteng development node.
Atterbury Property Development Director, Coenie Bezuidenhout, who is responsible for coordinating this immense commercial real estate project, comments on the new overpass bridge: “Waterfall is designed to be a modern city that really works for its residents and businesses and this includes providing excellent quality road infrastructure. With the construction of the Bridal Veil Overpass Bridge, these benefits will extend to everyone who uses the roads and highways in and around Midrand and Sandton.”
Bezuidenhout adds: “Besides providing another easy access point to Waterfall City, the new overpass bridge will help improve traffic flows in the Midrand area, taking strain off surrounding interchanges and making it easier to get around on Gauteng’s roads.”
The superstructure of the bridge will total a length of 115.8 metres and carry four lanes of traffic – two in each direction – a pedestrian walkway, a cycle track and a raised centre median, resulting in a width of 22.7 metres. It will also feature street lighting below and above the bridge, illuminating the N1 highway and Bridal Veil Road.
Construction began in November 2014, and the project will take 16 months to complete in March 2016. The development is being undertaken in strategic phases to minimise disruption to traffic on the N1 while the overpass bridge is being constructed.
“Waterfall City’s easy access from Gauteng’s transport network is an inherent advantage of Waterfall City and the new Bridal Veil Road Overpass Bridge is designed to enhance this,” says Bezuidenhout.
The Waterfall City development spans land on both sides of the N1 highway, from the Woodmead Interchange in the south through the bustling Buccleuch Interchange to the Allandale Interchange in the north, and spans from Modderfontein in the east to beyond Kyalami in the west. It enjoys superb access from Pretoria, Sandton and Johannesburg, and is closing the gap between northern Sandton and Midrand.
With its many advantages, it is no surprise that the growing Waterfall City continues to attract leading businesses including PwC, Servest and Colgate Palmolive, Cell C, Group 5, Altech, Digistics, Massbuild, Cipla, Golder & Associates, MB Technologies, Virgin Active, Premier Foods, Dräger S.A, Westcon Group, Novartis, Covidien, Cummins and Honda Motor SA. Atterbury has offices at Waterfall City and Attacq’s head-office is also based there. Waterfall also features a Netcare Hospital.
The new Bridal Veil Road Overpass bridge is scheduled to be complete on time for the launch of the iconic new 127,000sqm super-regional shopping centre, Mall of Africa, at Waterfall City, which will open in 2016.