URBAN MYTHS, HEROES AND ENGINEERS
The Foreshore Freeway Story 1950-1960

Date: Wednesday, 16 February 2011
Time: 17h00 for 17h30
Venue: Athenaeum, Newlands
Presenter: Lisa Kane

The incomplete Foreshore Freeway is a renowned landmark in Cape Town and the reasons for its’ incomplete state are the subject of several urban myths. For my PhD research I probe the story of the Foreshore Freeway after the Cape Town Plan of 1947 and before the Shand Report of 1963 using an unusual resource: the engineering archives of the 1950s and 1960s. The story which emerges is not as straightforward as one may expect, and unmasks governmental rivalry, political power play and charismatic characters. In this session I will present the findings of this work in a simply story form and would welcome any recollections from older members of SAICE on this work.

Lisa is an Honorary Research Associate at the Centre for Transport Studies, UCT.