Nearly 40 000 cars passed through Huguenot tunnel this Easter weekend
Nearly 40 000 car passed through the Huguenot tunnel since the start of the Easter weekend. Picture: Karen Sandison/African News Agency(ANA)
EASTER is a guaranteed nightmare for holidaying motorists but this year saw slightly fewer cars passing through the busy Huguenot tunnel.
With traffic officials out in full force across the province’s roads to monitor adherence to the laws, motorists have been advised to be extra cautious.
The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) said they recorded fewer motorists making their way through the Huguenot tunnel along the N1 as compared to the same period last year.
On Thursday more than 22 500 vehicles made their way through the tunnel. Last year this figure stood at 23 419.
On Friday the tunnel was used by 13 672 motorists compared to 13 650 the year before. And from midnight until 12pm yesterday only 3 143 motorists made its way through this tunnel. In the same period in 2021 the figure was 3 485.
Sanral’s Melany Kühn said by Saturday morning approximately 290 vehicles were passing through the Huguenot Tunnel on an hourly basis.
The City of Cape Town’s traffic spokesperson Maxine Bezuidenhout said three fatal accidents were recorded in the metro between Thursday and Saturday.
The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) said the biggest crash in the Western Cape occurred on Good Friday on the N1 near Leeu Gamka.
Eleven people succumbed to their injuries after a bus and minibus collided.
The Western Cape government on Thursday said it was expecting a busy Easter long weekend as more South Africans would be travelling to various destinations to attend religious gatherings and to go on holiday.
“This is good news for our economy and for a return to normal social life,” premier Alan Winde said.
“The past two Easter holidays under lockdown had a devastating impact on our economy and on the livelihoods of millions of people in the Western Cape and South Africa.”