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The Ben Schoeman Freeway or Ben Schoeman Highway is the main freeway between Johannesburg and Pretoria, and consists of portions of the M1, N1, and N14. [1] Opened in 1968, it is named after former Minister of Transport Ben Schoeman, [2] and is undoubtedly the busiest road in South Africa. [3]
The Ben Schoeman Highway begins under the designation of the M1, just north of the Corlett Drive exit, where the M1 is no longer under the maintenance of the Johannesburg Roads Agency. South of Corlett Drive, the M1 is known as the De Villiers Graaff Motorway.
The M1 ends at the Buccleuch interchange with the N3 and N1 highways (Johannesburg Ring Road). The Ben Schoeman Highway then becomes the N1 and passes through Midrand and Centurion.
In Centurion, at the Brakfontein interchange, the N1 meets the N14 and they switch highways, with the N1 becoming the eastwards highway (Pretoria Bypass), heading to the eastern suburbs of Pretoria and to Polokwane. The N14 leaves the eastwards highway and becomes the Ben Schoeman Highway northwards.
The entire N1 section, from the Buccleuch Interchange to the Brakfontein Interchange, was a toll road from 3 December 2013 as part of the Gauteng e-toll system (with open road tolling). [4] On 12 April 2024, e-tolls were discontinued in Gauteng, making the Ben Schoeman Freeway a toll-free road. [5] [6]
From the Brakfontein Interchange, the Ben Schoeman Highway continues northwards as the N14 directly into Pretoria, ending where it meets the R101 at Kgosi Mampuru Street (formerly Potgieter Street) in Salvokop, south of Pretoria Central.
The highway was in fact opened in the reverse order, beginning in 1968 with the section from Potgieter Street to just south of Brakfontein. The second section to be opened ran from Brakfontein to just south of the then Halfway House. The final section linked up the highway to the Buccleuch Interchange and Old Pretoria Main Road.
The M1 and N1 sections of the Ben Schoeman Highway, that is from the Corlett Drive (M30) off-ramp to the Brakfontein Interchange, are maintained by SANRAL. However, only the N1 section, which is the portion between the Buccleuch and Brakfontein interchanges, was tolled as part of the e-toll system. The N14 section, which is from the Brakfontein Interchange to Potgieter Street (R101) in Pretoria, is maintained by the Gauteng Provincial Government.
Two major upgrades have been done on the Ben Schoeman Highway, which was initially 2 lanes in each direction from Potgieter Street to Corlett Drive.
a) The first upgrade in the late 1980s saw the section between Buccleuch and Brakfontein Interchanges upgraded to a minimum of 3 lanes in each direction. The highway was completely rebuilt using concrete. New interchanges were added at the New Road and Samrand Avenue.
b) The second major upgrade of the highway, also from Buccleuch interchange to the Brakfontein Interchange was part of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project. The highway was upgraded from 3 lanes to 4 - 5 lanes in each direction, although between the Buccleuch Interchange and the M39 Allandale Road Interchange this has been increased to 6 lanes. Although concrete underlies some of the lanes for heavy/slow traffic, the road surface is now tar for the entire length of the Ben Schoeman Highway.
The highway has also been upgraded between Corlett Drive and the Buccleuch Interchange and consists of 3/4 lanes in each direction. Lighting is found along the highway from Brakfontein Interchange to Corlett Drive. The highway now includes upgraded overhead signage as well as electronic signage.
The northern section of the highway between Brakfontein Interchange and Potgieter Street has not been upgraded, although the road has been resurfaced at times. It remains 2 lanes in each direction, does not have central lighting, and does not have any overhead signage. As a result of the Gautrain route, the diamond interchange at Trichardt Street was changed, and so southbound traffic now exits to Snake Valley Road and no longer Trichardt Street.
The two main interchanges on the Ben Schoeman highway northwards are the Buccleuch Interchange (with the N3 Eastern Bypass and N1 Western Bypass), where the Ben Schoeman Highway changes from M1 to N1 designation, and the Brakfontein Interchange (with the N1 Danie Joubert Freeway - Pretoria Eastern Bypass - and N14 to Krugersdorp), where the highway changes from N1 to N14 designation.
The interchange between the N1 and M39 (formerly the R561), known as the Allandale Interchange, was completely redesigned as part of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project and is the only other free flowing interchange on the Ben Schoeman Highway.
Midrand is a former municipality in central Gauteng, South Africa. Situated in-between Centurion and Sandton, Midrand now forms part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.
The N3 is a national route in South Africa that connects Johannesburg and Durban, respectively South Africa's largest and third-largest cities. Johannesburg is the financial and commercial heartland of South Africa, while Durban is South Africa's key port and one of the busiest ports in the Southern Hemisphere and is also a holiday destination. Durban is the port through which Johannesburg imports and exports most of its goods. As a result, the N3 is a very busy highway and has a high volume of traffic.
Johannesburg is heavily dependent upon freeways for transport around the city due to its location 1,500 metres above sea level, far from the coast or any major bodies of water. There are 10 freeways in the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area: the N1, N3, N12, N14, N17, R21, R24, R59, M1 and M2. In addition, three new freeways are planned: the G5, G9 and G14. Freeways are sometimes called highways or motorways colloquially.
The Pretoria Ring Road, also known as the Pretoria Bypass, is a collection of two bypasses that together form a partial ring road around the city of Pretoria, South Africa. It consists of a section of the N1 highway as well as a section of the N4 highway. It is entirely in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality.
The N3 Eastern Bypass is a section of the Johannesburg Ring Road that forms a beltway around the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, as part of the N3. The first section of the freeway opened in 1971, from Buccleuch to the interchange with Main Reef Road in Germiston. This is one reason why Germiston is listed as the southbound destination of this route, from the Buccleuch to Geldenhuys Interchanges, rather than to the Elands Interchange south of Germiston. The remaining section from Main Reed Road to Black Reef Road, which included the construction of the Geldenhuys Interchange, was opened in 1977, linking the Eastern Bypass with the N3 freeway to Heidelberg. The interchange at Main Reef Road was removed.
The Western Bypass is a section of the N1 and the Johannesburg Ring Road located in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. Known at the time as the Concrete Highway, the freeway was initially opened in 1975 as a route to avoid the city centre of Johannesburg and to provide access to the western areas of the Witwatersrand. From the south, the Western Bypass begins at the Diepkloof Interchange in Soweto, where it splits from the N12 freeway and ends at the Buccleuch Interchange, where it merges with the N3 Eastern Bypass, M1 South and N1 Ben Schoeman freeways.
The N12 Southern Bypass is a section of the Johannesburg Ring Road that forms a beltway around the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, as part of the N12. The freeway was the last section of the Ring Road to be built, with the final section opening in 1986. As part of the old South African Freeways, It was initially called the N13. The entire Southern Bypass freeway was an e-toll highway from 3 December 2013 to 11 April 2024.
The N1 is a national route in South Africa that runs from Cape Town through Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Polokwane to Beit Bridge on the border with Zimbabwe. It forms the first section of the famed Cape to Cairo Road.
The R21 is a major north–south provincial route in eastern Gauteng Province, South Africa. Built in the early 1970s, it remains one of two freeways linking Pretoria with Johannesburg, via the R24. As the eastern of the two freeways, it links the Pretoria city centre with OR Tambo International Airport and Boksburg. Between the Solomon Mahlangu Drive on-ramp in Monument Park, Pretoria, and the N12 interchange in Boksburg, the R21 is an 8 lane highway and motorway (freeway), with 4 lanes in each direction. It has off-ramps leading to Irene, Olifantsfontein, Benoni, and Kempton Park. The route intersects the N1 highway near Centurion, the R24 near the airport, the N12 and N17 in Boksburg, and the N3 near Vosloorus on the East Rand, where it ends. The section from the N12 to the N3 is not a freeway. The R21 is also designated as the P157.
The R24 is a major East-West provincial route in the Gauteng and North West provinces that links OR Tambo International Airport with Rustenburg via Johannesburg, Krugersdorp and Magaliesburg. The process of renaming the streets and freeway that form the route from Krugersdorp eastward to OR Tambo International after anti-apartheid stalwart Albertina Sisulu was completed in 2013.
The R55 is a north-south provincial route in Gauteng, South Africa that connects Sandton with Pretoria. It passes Woodmead, Kyalami, Olievenhoutbosch, Heuweloord, Sunderland Ridge, Erasmia, Laudium/Claudius, West Park, the Daspoort Tunnel and Danville. It connects with the M1, N14, and R80 highways. It is also designated as the P66-1 and K71 by the Gauteng Provincial Government.
The M1 De Villiers Graaff motorway is a metropolitan route and major freeway in the City of Johannesburg, South Africa. The highway connects the southern areas with the city centre and extends further north through Sandton into the Ben Schoeman Highway towards Pretoria. Construction began in 1962 and resulted in the demolition of many properties and houses including numerous historical Parktown Mansions.
The N12 is a national route in South Africa which runs from George through Beaufort West, Kimberley, Klerksdorp and Johannesburg to eMalahleni.
The N4 is a national route in South Africa that runs from Skilpadshek on the Botswana border, past Rustenburg, Pretoria, eMalahleni and Mbombela, to Komatipoort on the Mozambique border. The entire route is a toll road.
The N14 is a national route in South Africa which runs from Springbok in the Northern Cape to Pretoria in Gauteng. It passes through Upington, Kuruman, Vryburg, Krugersdorp and Centurion. The section between Pretoria and Krugersdorp is maintained by the Gauteng Provincial government and is also designated the P158.
The N17 is a national route in South Africa which runs from Johannesburg to Oshoek (Ngwenya) on the border with Eswatini. It passes through Springs, Bethal and Ermelo.
The R101 is a Regional Route in South Africa that is the designation for some of the old sections of roads that were previously the N1, prior to upgrading. It only has 2 sections, from Bellville to Worcester and from Johannesburg to Polokwane.
The R564 is a Regional Route in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa. It connects Roodepoort with Buccleuch via Northriding and Fourways.
e-toll consisted of the electronic toll collection (ETC) processes employed by South Africa's roads agency SANRAL on selected toll roads or toll lanes in the Gauteng province, subject to the Sanral Act of 1998. SANRAL derives its income both from toll income and the national fiscus, while initial capital outlay for large projects are funded by open market bond issues. In total SANRAL manages 13,000 km of non-toll roads in South Africa, besides the majority of its toll roads, including 187 km of Gauteng's freeways which were subject to e-toll.
The M2 road is a metropolitan route in the City of Tshwane in Gauteng, South Africa. It connects the N1 and N4 highways at the Proefplaas Interchange with Proclamation Hill via Hatfield, Pretoria CBD and Pretoria West.
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