AFTER more than 30 years of struggling to get to his home and having to ask people to help him get to his front door, an elderly resident can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Thomas Walters, who has been living in Brown Street Circle in Schauderville for 32 years, said he didn’t think he would live to see the day where the circle finally gets tarred and made accessible for vehicles.
He eventually managed to see this when the project was recently completed, turning the once inaccessible circle into a tarred road where cars can drive in and out on the smooth road as they please.
The project commenced a little more than two months ago and the 32 steep steps that once provided the only access for residents to their homes were removed and replaced by a tarred driveway.
PE Express reported on the circle, the only one in Schauderville that has never been made accessible to vehicles, approximately six months ago.
A resident, Nigel Burger, was concerned that if a fire were to break out or something serious went wrong in the tiny circle, emergency vehicles would not be able to get to them since there was no way for them to enter.
Burger was especially worried about the safety of his 87-year-old grandmother who lives in the circle and was in hospital during that time. He added that it was a struggle to get her up and down the stairs.
Client liaison officer on the project, Kurt Campher, referred to the previous conditions of the circle as being “hostile” and added that transforming the circle, that has been in existence for about 80 years, involved the removal of the concrete steps, clearing of excess sand and grass and the identifying of water and electrical underground networking that took precedence.
“It looked terrible here for all these years. There were just stones everywhere,” Walters said as he looked out of his front door at the smooth black surface of the “new” circle.
“For all the years that I’ve lived here I have had to pay people to help me get up the steps and to my door. The taxi would drop me in the street and I’d pay someone then too, just to help me get my parcels home. Now we can drive in and stop at my door,” he explained.
“This project brought forth a good message and I am happy. Everyone that has visited my house in the meantime said that it looks wonderful. It really is so much better than before,” he said.
Burger said that he visited his grandmother after the project was completed and she was satisfied with how everything turned out.
“I’m also happy. The fact that it’s done and cars can enter is a huge weight that has been lifted off our shoulders.”
Ward councillor, Graham Gelderbloem, is excited about the completion of the project too.
“It went well; we’re happy,” he said.
