Upper Highway residents demand urgent safety measures on Inanda Road

Residents and motorists are waiting with bated breath for interventions the Department of Transport (DoT) will take to repair Crinkley Bottom along Inanda Road in Durban.

Julie Cox, a spokesperson for the Upper Highway Ratepayers Association (UHRPA), said their concern was the stretch of Inanda Road between Molweni and the Waterfall area. She described the road surface as a patchwork quilt where they have filled potholes, but they keep reappearing. 

“It is a busy route. We do not have another road to use. We have a list of 14 collisions that took place in the vicinity. For motorists who brave the winding descent of Inanda Road after the Crinkly Bottom dip, the question is no longer if they will see a crash – but when. Over the past five years, the 3km section between Watercrest Mall and Molweni has racked up a grim roll call of fatalities and mass casualty collisions, earning locals the chilling nickname the death trap,” she said. 

According to Cox, emergency service logs and media reports show at least five major crashes – four of them fatal – since 2021 alone, with residents insisting the true toll is far higher.

The UHRPA blames a lethal mix of collapsed pavements, chronic potholes, blind bends, and unchecked speeding. 

“A crater at Crinkly Bottom, deep enough to shred tyres and pitch cars into oncoming traffic, was finally repaired in January after it wrote off several vehicles and sparked two accidents in one morning. Only one of the five requested speed limit signs, dropping the limit from 80 km/h to 40 km/h, has been installed. The Department of Transport (DoT) told the community it had 'no stock' for the rest,” Cox said. 

The UHRPA added that five transverse rumblestrips – each 9.5mm high, the legal maximum – were promised to slow drivers before the bend. 

“Only three shallow bars were painted, which hardly makes a difference,” according to the UHRPA committee. 

Frustrated residents collected 3,082 signatures on a Change.org petition titled “Urgent Safety Measures Needed on Inanda Road” in May 2025.

The document calls for:

• Full resurfacing and drainage repairs.
• Proper 40 km/h signage and high-profile rumble strips.
• Streetlighting restoration and reflective studs.
• Permanent speed camera enforcement.

“For now, the death trap label sticks. Until signs, rumble strips, and a rebuilt surface replace broken promises, Waterfall drivers can only slow down, pray, and hope they’re not next,” Cox said. 

Marlaine Nair, MPL and member of the DA Caucus in the KZN Legislature, said that the residents of Hillcrest and the surrounding communities of Waterfall, Crestholme, and Molweni have long been crying out for urgent intervention on Inanda Road, which has become a death trap, with fatal crashes almost weekly. 

“This, in addition to daily congestion and long-delayed repairs as a result of flood damage in April 2022. The busy road – which links these communities – has deteriorated into a corridor of danger due to excessive speeding, inadequate signage, poor lighting, and drainage,” she said. 

Despite commitments by KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN’s) Department of Transport (DoT), after the April 2022 floods, to repair drainage systems and resurface damaged sections, no meaningful progress has been made.

Meanwhile, concerned residents’ petitions, sent to MEC Siboniso Duma, have gone unanswered, while the road continues to undermine both public safety and local economic activity.

Nair said she had raised the issue of Inanda Road in the KZN Legislature in the form of a formal Notice of Motion.

According to her, the DoT must provide clear timelines, budget allocations, and a permanent maintenance programme. 

Ndabezinhle Sibiya, spokesperson for DoT, said the department will be updating on the progress of the construction of roads in the eThekwini Region during Transport Month in October. 

zainul.dawood@inl.co.za