A new lane will be added to the N1 freeway between the Allendale and Buccleuch interchanges to alleviate congestion, the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) said recently.
”As of October 2 there will be a full additional lane between the two interchanges open to all road users in congested periods,” said Sanral project manager Alex van Niekerk.
This project would also include a high-tech vehicle monitoring system to improve the flow of congested traffic on that stretch of road.
The Ben Schoeman freeway (N1) is the busiest highway in South Africa, sustaining between 160 000 and 180 000 vehicle trips per day.
In conjunction with this, a three-day Department of Transport pilot project will attempt to determine the feasibility of a high-occupancy lane on the N1.
This pilot would be implemented ”sometime during October”, said Alfred Nhlapo, spokesperson for the Gauteng transport department.
”[Provincial minister] Ignatius Jacobs will issue a statement to the media and public next week,” he said.
Earlier media reports indicated that the left-hand lane would be closed to driver-only cars as a result of the pilot project.
”One lane will be used [for the pilot]; at this stage we do not know which one,” said Automobile Association spokesperson Gary Ronald.
”They [Department of Transport] clearly haven’t made up their minds yet, but it doesn’t matter. It’s three days in a month and all the [media] confusion is quite frankly an overreaction. This is purely an experiment,” he said. — Sapa