Chapman’s Peak Drive #5: History pt 3 (1999-2001)
This is the 5th in a series of 8 caches (incorporating 2 existing and 6 new ones) along this 9 km long, world-famous, spectacular, and award-winning cliff-edge mountain pass.
The Park and Grab cache, a small camo-taped tablet pot, is hidden on the southern edge of another large, shady, parking and picnic areas with great views of Hout Bay. See GC9KPCD CPD #3 for toll tips.
See here for a great drone video of CPD.
. . . On 29 December 1999 however, a falling rock caused the unfortunate death of a Noordhoek resident. In early January 2000, Ms Lara Callige was killed, and a passenger in the same car seriously injured in a rockfall incident on Chapman’s Peak Drive in good weather conditions when the rockfall risk on the road was not considered to be high.
This was of serious concern to the local and provincial authorities alike and emergency meetings to discuss closure of Chapman’s Peak Drive were held between the relevant political bodies. Before a decision could be taken on the matter, and still in January 2000, the worst mountain fires in many decades raged in the Cape Peninsula, including in the mountains above Chapman’s Peak Drive, causing numerous rockfalls onto the road and effectively rendering the road impassable.
In January 2000, as a result of these incidents, the Provincial Minister of Transport closed CPD till further notice.
Developments 2000-2003: based on the recommendations of geotechnical specialists, the Provincial Administration’s Transport Branch made available funding for ‘rockbarring’ (a term used for removing loose or dangerous rocks) of the mountain slopes above the road to make them safer and contracts were awarded in March 2000.
It was soon clear that this process would take much longer than originally anticipated and cost much more. So, the work stopped in May 2000 and an integrated environmental management process (IEM) was put in place to produce an agreed management plan for Chapman’s Peak Drive by mid-2001.
At the end of April 2001, a review of the initial ‘rockbarring’ work concluded that some of this might be needed in the final upgrading process, but that a ‘clean sweep’ approach could not be condoned. So selective rockbarring would need to be accompanied by various engineered rockfall protective measures in order to make the road safe for users.
A September 2000 stakeholder workshop identified and agreed various improvements and protective measures to be implemented with the overriding and urgent requirement to re-open the road to traffic asap.
Various concept design proposals were prepared inter alia for: rockbarring, catch fences, rock gallery protection, concrete roof protection, existing structure repair, road surface and layerwork (deeper road layers) repair, slope stabilisation work above and below the road.
In late November 2000, public meetings were held to report back on the project to the general public in Hout Bay and Noordhoek Valley and get relevant feedback. Further meetings in March 2001 reported on progress.
See here for a 2013 video available of a drive along CPD (one of many such YT videos available).
