The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) officially launched the ‘Find & Fix’ mobile app on Wednesday, which gives residents of the city the power to easily report potholes and other road and traffic problems or hazards.

The agency said the new tool, which was unveiled at a function hosted at the Microsoft Building in Sandton, has been designed to improve communication with road users and is part of a larger strategy to convert the JRA into a centre of engineering excellence.

MD Skhumbuzo Macozoma said it was important for the agency to have adequate data on the state of roads in Johannesburg in order to fulfil its mandate and that the mobile app should improve its overall visibility of conditions.

Prior to the launch, the JRA had already conducted a road-condition assessment and was currently completing a ten-year development plan for the city of Johannesburg. The plan would not only assess ways to improve existing roads, but also addresses future roads needs.

A strategic framework had also been compiled identifying the systems that should be deployed to improve road infrastructure within the city.

Within the strategic framework, JRA outlined four core programmes, namely a resurfacing programme, a rehabilitation programme, a bridge-inspection programme and a gravel road upgrades programme.

The resurfacing programme was targeted at roads that were still in good condition but needed to be resurfaced, while the rehabilitation programme addressed roads that needed to be completely reconstructed. The bridge-inspection programme focused on the state of bridges across the city and whether or not the bridges would need reconstruction or resurfacing. The gravel road upgrades programme, meanwhile, would home in on areas where there was still a need for road infrastructure.

“The programmes are already running in parallel in order not to prioritise one programme over another. This resonates with our aim to improve road infrastructure in the city holistically,” Macozoma noted.

He said the mobile app formed part of JRA’s turnaround strategy for more effective service delivery, while it is committed to developing engineering excellence to ensure it has satisfied customers.  It enabled the public to report potholes, faulty traffic signals, blocked storm water drains and manhole covers and other infrastructure defects related to the JRA.

The app also allowed for ongoing communication in service progress, which would hopefully facilitate faster turnaround times and allow for media alerts of hazard hotspots.

“Citizens will now be able to access the JRA a lot quicker, which prompts us to improve the level of productivity, improve the level of accountability and make sure that everybody within the agency begins to subscribe to the notion of performance management,” he emphasised.

The app was downloadable for most mobile operating system platforms such as Windows Phone 8, Android and iOS for Apple phone.

“The app provides an accurate location with global positioning system coordinates and makes it easy to provide photo evidence, which complements the JRA’s ability to plan repairs more scientifically based on reports and data received. This also enhances efficiency and increases productivity for the agency,” Macozoma concluded.