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The upgrade of the Cape Town Refinery interchange in South Africa is making good progress, with completion due in early 2024, local contractor Haw & Inglis Construction has confirmed.

The work, which got underway in July 2021, entails delivering two new higher and wider bridges over the busy N7 highway and upgraded access ramps.

The new bridges will double the capacity and provide an additional 1.7-metre clearance compared with the original bridge, which was demolished in December 2022.

“Each bridge deck over the N7 was cast in two, consisting of a dual spine, post-tensioned structure,” explains Leiton Chan, construction manager at Haw & Inglis Construction. “The project is currently on schedule, with the estimated completion for the eastbound carriageway bridge over the N7 being August 2023.”

AfriSam is providing the bulk of the construction materials for the project, including 6,300 cubic metres of ready-mix concrete and material for layer works. The company is also supplying some 15,000 tonnes of aggregate to the project’s asphalt supplier, Much Asphalt. 

The ready-mix is supplied from AfriSam’s Contermanskloof plant in Durbanville, located 8km from the site, with support from the company’s other nearby plants at Woodstock and Bellville.

The spreading of supply sources allows for mitigation of project risk related to ready-mix deliveries, says Bradley Thomas, territory sales manager at AfriSam. Large continuous pours leave little room for error, and unforeseen events such as traffic congestion have to be factored into the resource planning.

For the road work, AfriSam is supplying about 50,000 tonnes of aggregate for layer works from its Contermanskloof quarry.

According to Chan, Haw & Inglis Construction has been able to incorporate a considerable amount of recycled material in the road fill. He says that the westbound carriageway fill was made up of in-situ G7 sand material excavated from the bridge and mixed with recycled asphalt product (RAP). The RAP is milled material from various road contracts conducted by the Western Cape government.

In addition to carefully facilitating the traffic flow through the interchange during construction, the project has also had to navigate underground and overhead services from high voltage power lines and diesel pipes to sewer networks and optical fibre lines. A further environmental priority was not to disturb two small wetlands within the road reserve. 

All photos supplied by Haw & Inglis Construction