Public Road and Miscellaneous By-laws
Published in Province of Gauteng: Provincial Gazette no. 179 on 21 May 2004
- Amended by City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality Amendment to the Public Roads and Miscellaneous By-laws on 1 December 2010
- Amended by City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality Amendment to the Public Roads and Miscellaneous By-laws on 29 June 2011
- Amended by City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality Amendment to the Public Roads and Miscellaneous By-laws on 10 August 2011
Chapter 1
Interpretation
1. Definitions and interpretation
Chapter 2
Public roads and miscellaneous
2. Ropes, wires or poles across public road
No person may place any rope, wire or pole on, under or across any public road, or hang, or place anything whatsoever thereon, without the prior written permission of the Council.3. Damage to trees
No person may climb upon, or break or damage or in any way mark or paint on any tree on any public road within the municipal area of the Council, and no person may, without the prior written permission of the Council, lop, top, trim, cut down or remove any such tree unless the person is authorised to do so in terms of these By-laws or any other law.4. Barbed wire, dangerous and electrical fencing
5. Protection of public roads
No person may place upon or off-load on a public road any material or goods that are likely to cause damage to a public road unless the person has taken reasonable precautions to protect the surface of the public road against damage.6. Cleanliness of public roads
7. Article placed in building facing public road
No person may place any article likely to cause injury or damage to any person or property if it were to fall on a public road, in any near a public road without taking all reasonable steps to prevent it falling onto the public road.7A. Display of Household Clothes and Fabric, etc.
No person shall, with the municipal area of the Council, display in any manner to the view of the public, except as an article for sale in a shop window or on a sidewalk, any article of clothing or any household, domestic or other linen or any other fabric (except when used as curtains) from any window or on or from any wall or balcony or veranda fronting on any street or public place.8. Damaging of Council's property
Subject to the provisions of section 10, no person may deface, tamper, damage, remove, or in any way interfere with any of the Council's property or work on or along any public road.9. Cleaning and repairing on public roads
No person may clean or repair any part of a vehicle or wash, dry or paint any article or object on any public road except in the case of an emergency breakdown of a vehicle, when emergency repairs may be done.10. Excavations in public roads
11. Defacing, marking or painting public roads
No person may in any way deface, mark or paint any public road or part of a public road or any structure related to such road, without the prior written permission of the Council.12. Races and sports events
13. Loitering on public roads
14. Loitering and touting at places of public entertainment
15. Public decency
16. Trolleys
17. Public road collections
18. Control of stormwater and watercourses on public road
19. Obstruction on public roads
No person may deposit or cause to be deposited or leave or cause to be left any sand, stone, earth, bricks, timber, lime, cement or other building or excavated material of whatever nature on any portion of any public road, sidewalk or footway unless it is deposited within an enclosure in respect of which the prior written permission of the Council has been obtained.20. Planting on sidewalks
No person may plant or cause to be planted, any tree, shrub or other plant on any public road or any sidewalk, footway or road reserve forming part thereof, which obstructs or interferes with pedestrian traffic on such sidewalk, footway or road reserve or allow any such tree, shrub or plant to remain on that sidewalk, footway or road reserve.21. Permission to hoard in footway
Chapter 3
Traffic matters
22. Control of traffic
An authorised official may direct any form of traffic by means of any visible or audible signal and every person must obey such signal.23. Clinging to moving vehicles
No person travelling upon any pedal cycle, motor cycle, coaster, sled, rollerskates, or any other similar device may cling to or attach himself or herself or such cycle coaster, sled, roller-scates or device to any other moving vehicle, upon a public road.24. Removal of obstructions
25. Games, throwing stones, on public roads
26. Shoeing and cleaning of animals on public roads
No person may shoe any animal, or clean, dress, train or break-in livestock on any public road.27. Animals on public roads
28. Parking meters
28A. Parking coupon devices
29. Medical practitioner exempt
A medical practitioner is exempt from paying the prescribed fees, while the vehicle used by that practitioner is parked in a demarcated space to enable him or her to perform professional duties at any place other than a consulting room or similar place, subject to a form or token issued by the South African Medical Council for that purpose being displayed on the windscreen of the vehicle concerned in such manner that it is readily legible from outside the vehicle.Chapter 4
General provisions
30. Offences and penalties
Any person who- (a) contravenes or fails to comply with any provisions of these By-laws; (b) fails to comply with any notice issued in terms of these By-laws; or (c) fails to comply with any lawful instruction given in terms of these By-laws; or (d) who obstructs or hinders any authorised representative or employee of the Council in the execution of his or her duties under these By-laws, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or in default of payment to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months, and in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding R50, or in default of payment, to imprisonment not exceeding one day, for every day during the r continuance of such offence, after a written notice has been issued by the Council, and served on the person concerned, requesting the discontinuance of such offence.31. Repeal of by-laws
The by-laws listed in Schedule 1 are hereby repealed.32. Short title
These By-laws are called the Public Road and Miscellaneous By-laws, 2003.Schedule 1
REPEALED BY-LAWSNumber and year | Name of by-law | Extent of repeal |
---|---|---|
Administrator's Notice 281 dated 27 June 1934 | Road Traffic By-laws (JHB) | The whole |
Administrator's Notice 368 dated 14 March 1973 | Standard Street and Miscellaneous By-laws (Randburg Municipality) | The whole |
Administrator's Notice 652 dated 24 April 1974 | Standard Street and Miscellaneous By-laws (Sandton Municipality) | The whole |
Standard Street and Miscellaneous By-laws (Roodepoort Municipality) | The whole | |
Standard Street and Miscellaneous By-laws (Midrand Municipality) | The whole | |
Government Notice R.2606 dated 2 December 1983 under section 27 (2A) of the Black Local Authorities Act, 1982 (Act 102 of 1982) read with section 13(3) of the Local Government Transition Act, 1993 (Act No 209 of 1993) | By-laws relating to Streets and Street Collections as applied by the Municipalities of Alexandra, Diepmeadow, Dobsonville and Soweto | Whole |
Local Authority Notice 741 dated 22 March 1989 | Standard Traffic By-laws (Randburg) | The whole |
Local Authority Notice of Roodepoort Municipality on page 5161 in Official Gazette dated 21 December 1988 | Standard Traffic By-laws (Roodepoortl | The whole |
Administrator's Notice 901 dated 19 August 1970 as amended by Administrator's Notice 1692 dated 24 October 1973 | Parking Meter By-laws (Roodepoort) | The whole |
Schedule 2
CITY OF JOHANNESBURG METROPOlITAN MUNICIPAlITY - CODE OF PRACTICE FOR WORK IN THE ROAD RESERVE FOREWORD Although the road authority is solely responsible for its own road network, the value of other r services in the road reserve are often more than that of the road itself and therefore require as much or more maintenance, rehabilitation and replacement. These activities, together with the work that has to be carried out on the road itself, result in considerable delays, inconvenience, danger and additional costs to the road users. Furthermore, any work which is done in the road reserve can have serious cost implications as a result of any of the following: damage to roads and other services; damage to vehicles; injury to vehicle occupants or pedestrians; reduction of the effective life of the road, footway or other services; and time and social costs caused by delays. There is therefore a need to ensure careful control and co-ordination of all work in the road reserve. This is the duty of the road authority who is the custodian of all municipal road reserves. In order to fulfil this duty, the road authority produced this document that attempts to ensure maximum co-ordination and co-operation between all the various departments and agencies that have to share the road reserve to provide Services to their customers. It is the aim of this document to minimise the effect of all work in the road reserve to the benefit of all concerned, and in particular the ratepayers, road users (motorists and pedestrians), service agencies and the road authority. Included are the procedures to apply, process and approve wayleaves, procedures to follow while doing the work and on completion of the work as well as specifications according to which the work must be done. This initiative can only succeed if every agency and department that works in the road reserve co-operate by working according to this Code and by providing feedback on how the system can be improved. DEFINITIONS In this Code, unless the context otherwise indicates - "authorised agent" means an agent which is authorised by the Council to perform specified services; "Code" means the Code of Practice for work in· the Road Reserve as approved by the Council and as agreed to by the parties including any appendices attached thereto; "Council" means - (a) the Metropolitan Municipality of the City of Johannesburg established by Provincial Notice No. 6766 of 2000 dated 1 October 2000, as amended, exercising its legislative and executive authority through its municipal Council; or (b) its successor in title; or (c) a structure or person exercising a delegated power or carrying out an instruction, where any power in these by-laws has been delegated or sub-delegated, or an instruction given, as contemplated in section 59 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act No. 32 of 2000); or (d) a service provider fulfilling a responsibility under these by-laws, assigned to it in terms of section 81 (2) of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, or any other law, as the case may be. "lane rental" means the rental which is paid to the road authority by a service agency whose work in the road reserve results in time delay costs (TDC) being incurred by the users of the road reserve; "road authority" means the organisation or authorised agency appointed by the Council that is responsible for providing and maintaining the road network within the municipal area of the Council; "road reserve" means the full width of a public road, and includes the verge and the roadway; "service" means any system for supplying a public need that a service agency has on the road reserve; "service agency" means any municipal department, public agency, company or utility that has a service in the road reserve; "wayleave" means a formal approval to carry out work in the road reserve; "work in the road reserve" means any activity, including the activities provided for in section 2 of this Code, carried out within the road reserve.1. PROCEDURE
2. WORK IN THE ROAD RESERVE
3. WAYLEAVE AND LANE RENTAL
4. COSTS
5. EXISTING SERVICES IN THE ROAD RESERVE
6. ROAD CATEGORIES
Function | Category | Road Type | Administration |
---|---|---|---|
A (Class 1) |
A1 A2 A3 |
National Roads Primary- (inter) provincial Urban Freeway/Motorways |
SANRAL Gauteng DoT Road Authority |
B (Class 2) |
B2 B3 |
Primary - (inter) provincial Major (inter) urban arterials |
Gauteng DoT Road Authority |
C (Class 3) |
C2 C3 |
\(Inter) district connectors Minor (intra) urban arterials |
Gauteng DoT Road Authority |
D (Class 4) |
D2 D3 D4 |
Intra district connectors (Intra) district collectors (Intra) district collectors & industrial roads |
Gauteng DoT Road Authority Road Authority |
E (Class 5) | E4 | Urban distributors | Road Authority |
F (Class 6) | F4 | Local access roads | Road Authority |
G (Class 7) | G5 | Private roads / Culs de Sac | Road Authority / Residents |
7. PROTECTED ROADS
8. TRAFFIC SIGNS AND BARRICADING
9. ROAD CLOSURES
10. EXCAVATIONS
11. TRENCHLESS METHODS
12. EMERGENCY WORK
13. SPECIFICATIONS FOR BACKFILLING AND REINSTATEMENTS
Reinstatement Width (mm) | Height of Deformation or Hump as measured with straight edge (mm) |
---|---|
Up to 400 | 10 |
400 to 500 | 12 |
500 to 600 | 14 |
600 to 700 | 17 |
700 to 800 | 19 |
800 to 900 | 22 |
Over 900 | 25 |


14. COMPLETION NOTICE AND CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION







Page No | |
---|---|
General 1 | 3.10.1 |
Urban roadworks | 13.10.1 |
Temporary traffic signals | 13.10.2 |
Sidewalk deviation | 13.10.4 |
Localised work site - good visibility | 13.10.6 |
Lane closed beyond a junction | 13.10.8 |
Work within a junction | 13.10.10 |
Work in a one-way street | 13.10.12 |
Road closure - CBD | 13.10.14 |
Road closure - dual carriageway street | 13.10.16 |
Road closure - detour | 13.10.18 |