Page 103 - Bulletin 13 2009

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The construction from St. James to Kalk Bay was relatively straightforward. The really
difficult stretch of road was from the Martin’s Cottage at Quarry Road / Woolley’s Pool

to the crossing of the Silvermine River. Of all the phases of the Main Road construction
it has been the most thoroughly documented, specifically by Mr N. Hoskins in the 1931

Minutes of Proceedings of the SASCE. Details follow:

Mayor’s Minute Sept. 1929: On 26/4/1928 Council approved the Streets and Drainage

Committee’s report on proposed widening from the Bottle Store (Quarry Road) to the
Fish Hoek boundary to 50 feet, including a concrete promenade footpath on the sea side

of the road. To reduce costs it was decided to shorten the columns and cantilever the
footway. This was expected to reduce the cost by some £2,000 in the overall tender

price of £14,000 of Messrs. McLaren & Eger. ie. 14%. On 11/12/1928 McLaren & Eger

agreed to this. So work probably commenced in 1929.

At this time the hardened road surface was a mere 18 ft. wide and considered a genuine

danger to traffic and pedestrians who had no formal footpath to walk along. Four
alternative widening proposals were considered and all included a substantial walking

and viewing promenade to take advantage of the elevation and uninterrupted views
across the bay. The chosen alternative required the construction of concrete retaining

walls along the boundary of the CCC – SAR land with the promenade built on the
seaside of these walls and supported by reinforced concrete columns and beams.

The road itself was not only widened to about 50 ft. but the curves were eased in places
and the gradients smoothed by excavating down in some higher places and using this

material to raise the road level in lower sections. An 18” stormwater drain with two
ocean outfalls had also to be accommodated in the construction.

The columns of the promenade were footed on solid bedrock and in places some rock

had to be removed, not by blasting because of damage to railway, road and buildings,

but by splitting using wedges and feathers. It is quite likely that some of these rock
obstructions were the famous old Trappies that early travellers had had difficulty