Sustainable transport and intermodal solutions for urban growth and development : a case study of the Integrated Gauteng Transport Master Plan 2025

Abstract

“Our next step is the future, but the future is here and now.” We live in a constantly changing world, with a continuous change in urban growth and development. There has been a significant growth in freight traffic over the last few decades. The development of road transport, which contributes to air pollution, noise, congestion, and safety concerns, is particularly a concern in South Africa, where freight traffic is concentrated on a limited number of routes and where topography results in the limited spreading of pollutions. High national freight logistics costs, major road infrastructure challenges and environmental impact concerns of a road conquered freight transport market have fuelled this study’s interest in intermodal transport solutions. Concerns of planning for sustainable and intermodal development have incited this study to reach a consensus surrounding the necessity of balancing the use of different transportation modes, and in particular, increasing rail mode share. The issue of sustainable intermodal transport in South Africa is very critical due to the expansion of cities and that people do not pay attention to all aspects such as the significance of the environment, economy and social structures. Some challenges include high demand, inefficient and inadequate terminal and rail systems, high fuel costs, limited collaboration, process inefficiencies and skills shortages. The field of sustainable development can be conceptually broken into three legs: environmental protection, economic sustainability and social justice. The transport sector in South Africa runs at a significant cost to road infrastructure, resources and the environment. This study investigates two corridors namely the Gauteng – Durban and the Gauteng – Cape Town corridors; if these two can be an example of a sustainable intermodal transport network it would reduce a lot of stress from the environment, economies and social activities. Intermodal solutions play an important role in the growth and development of sub-Saharan Africa and the Africa continent as a whole, efficiencydriven transportation systems enable growth and thereby, competitiveness. Due to the fact that the Gauteng 25 year Integrated Transport Master Plan is still in progress and have not yet been finalised, this study can be a seen as a guideline for freight transport with regards to the final integrated transport master plan. The main aim of this study is to do a investigate sustainable and intermodal transport to determine whether there are an opening-break for this, and to recognise solutions and opportunities in our current postmodern world, to identify what the future (2025) beholds. “The future lies before you, like paths of pure white snow. Be careful how you tread on it, for every step will show.”