The going-nowhere flyovers of the Foreshore area have become perhaps Cape Town’s most recognisable engineering icons. The most popular urban legend has it that the engineer who designed them got the curve of the camber going the wrong way so they could not join, and he ended up committing suicide. Sorry, not so. As with most things, the real story is far more complicated and interesting.
It was part of an ill-conceived plan by the city engineers in the 1970s to build a highway system linking the freeways coming into the Waterfront area with a dual carriageway all the way up to Kloof Nek. To achieve this they had to buy up all the land between Bree and Buitengracht streets, which they started to do.
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The plan started out well enough; the base freeway flyovers were duly built and the land expropriations were going swimmingly, clearing away some of the urban decay of lower town in the process. Until they came to the derelict block between Shortmarket and Hout streets that had crumbled into a kind of warren where various penumbral people had set up shop. Among them was a blacksmith, the smoke from his fire creating Dickensian scenes in the gloomy workshop.
Then two things happened: property prices started escalating as news of the plan spread up town, and some wise city fathers realised that block was a bit special. It was an early 18th century group of warehouses and commercial buildings that included some of the last slave quarters remaining. The Institute of Architects and Historic Society set up a task force to protect the block, which today we know as Heritage Square together with hotel and popular night spots including Savoy Cabbage and Africa Café.
During the appeal process the imprudence of the Kloof Nek freeway system was exposed; the plan was shelved, with those flyovers left as a monument – a modernist urban follies if you will – to the plans of engineers and empire builders.
Stay in Cape Town
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Portfolio Collection has a stunning selection of handpicked Cape Town city accommodation - B&Bs, guest houses and boutique hotels, such as Cape Riviera Guest House in trendy Oranjezicht. Situated at the foot of Table Mountain Cape Riviera offers luxurious accommodation for the discerning guest.
Cape Town is a vibrant city centre. While visiting this world renowned coastal city, take time to stroll through the historic Company Gardens - watch artists paint, or feed the tame squirrels. Iziko museums and galleries are also located in these lush gardens.
About the blogger
David Bristow, aka The Storyteller, has been a committed traveller since the age of 14. Few people have travelled South Africa and indeed Africa as extensively as he, and written about it – to date some 20 books and uncountable travel and nature magazine features.