46-620: 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 (including Booysens , Eldorado Park and Soweto ) 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 M1 officially starts at
92-588: A member of the House of Assembly , the lower house of Parliament , in 1948, the year his United Party was ousted from government by the conservative National Party , which promised to enact a de jure system of apartheid . Victory in De Villiers' constituency (Hottentots-Holland) was the sole UP gain in the election; nevertheless, Graaff took over leadership of the United Party in 1956 from J.G.N. Strauss . He led
138-607: A new requirement for Commonwealth membership respecting racial equality resulted in South Africa's withdrawal from the Commonwealth in 1961. In 1977, the United Party was dissolved and the New Republic Party was founded, of which Graaff briefly served as interim leader before retiring. During his time as leader of the United Party it had split four times and been defeated in five general elections. The M1 highway , which
184-700: A portion south of the CBD is maintained by the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) with the remainder to the South also maintained by the provincial government. The northern section maintained by the Gauteng Provincial Government is also designated the P206-1. Speed limits, which are strictly enforced, change as one gets nearer to the centre of Johannesburg, from 100 km/h in the northern section, beginning at
230-710: A road that is part of the proposed extension of the N17 (northerly on-ramp and southerly off-ramp). It soon crosses under the R41 near Wisbey Dip, heading north-west past the Newclare Cemetery. Here, it forms the borderline between Johannesburg to the east and Roodepoort to the west. It then intersects the R24 Albertina Sisulu Road Interchange in Bosmont . Continuing in a roughly northerly direction it passes under
276-699: Is at the Buccleuch Interchange, where it meets with the N1 ( Western Bypass ) and the N3 ( Eastern Bypass ) highways of Johannesburg and becomes the Ben Schoeman Highway (N1) to Pretoria . The part of the M1 in Sandton, between Corlett Drive and the Buccleuch Interchange is maintained by SANRAL . Signage and extra lanes have been upgraded in 2010 with the "Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project" (GFIP). The section between Corlett Drive and
322-535: Is the longest section of the Johannesburg Ring Road . The freeway is mostly four lanes wide in either direction, but fans out into six lanes between Rivonia and Buccleuch, where there is heavy traffic moving north towards Pretoria . The Western Bypass is part of the N1 road that spans the length of South Africa. The southern terminus of the N1 Western Bypass begins at Diepkloof Interchange where
368-843: 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 Western Bypass
414-606: The M18 Ontdekkers Road before interchanging Gordon Road in Florida Glen . Heading north-west, it intersects with the M8 14th Avenue Interchange at Quellerina. Turning north-east, it passes between the suburbs of Weltevredenpark and Fairland to enter Randburg . Here, it intersects with the M5 ( Beyers Naudé Drive ) Interchange near Randpark Ridge . Continuing north-east, it crosses under
460-842: The M6 Ysterhout Drive in Bromhof . Continuing north-east, it intersects the R512 ( Malibongwe Drive ) Interchange in Strijdompark . The N1 continues north-east through the northern suburbs of Meadowhurst, Olivedale and Douglasdale before it intersects the R511 / M81 Winnie Mandela Drive in Bryanston . Now taking an easterly direction, it passes under the M71 Main Road in Bryanston and then runs parallel with
506-830: The M68 (Columbine Avenue) Interchange in Southgate , Johannesburg South , just east of the Southgate Shopping Centre and west of Mondeor . South of this interchange, it is designated as the R82 towards Walkerville and Vereeniging . The M1 begins by heading northwards from the M68 off-ramp to reach the Uncle Charlie's Interchange with the N12 highway ( Southern Bypass ) in Ridgeway (west southbound interchange only). It continues north-east towards
SECTION 10
#1732858643352552-672: The N3 Eastern Bypass to the East Rand in the south-east and the N1 Ben Schoeman Freeway to Midrand and Pretoria in the north. By creating a narrower emergency shoulder, the freeway was widened during the 1990s from two lanes to three lanes in either direction, to alleviate massive traffic congestion on Johannesburg's roads. From 2007, the Western Bypass was included in the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP), which improved traffic conditions in
598-815: The R564 Witkoppen Road to its north until it intersects with the M9 Rivonia Road Interchange in Rivonia . Here, it becomes 6 lanes in each direction. Continuing east, it passes under the M85 Bowling Avenue and then under the R55 Woodmead Drive to reach the Buccleuch Interchange. At this interchange, it has its north-eastern terminus, meeting the M1 Highway south to Johannesburg CBD ,
644-615: The Braamfontein Railway Bridge in Braamfontein required to connect the future M1 north and southern motorways. The Johannesburg City Engineer Department began its planning for the M1 motorway, that included a motorway from the Braamfontein Railway Bridge under construction, south to a future Westgate Interchange and included a double-decker section above Goch Street. The construction on the Sivewright Road / Berea Street and
690-612: The Buccleuch interchange, finally dropping to 80 km/h near the city centre. South of the CBD, the speed limit again increases. Before an upgrade in 2012, the speed limit was 120 km/h on the provincial government maintained stretch in Sandton, dropping to 100 km/h as it ran through the Northern Suburbs of Johannesburg (from the start of the JRA maintained section before Corlett Drive). However, subsequent to rehabilitation work in 2012,
736-712: The Johannesburg municipal boundary in the northern suburbs. The Westgate section would connect up with an east/west motorway running just south of the Johannesburg CBD. A third section involved the reconfiguration of roads to form an eastern CBD bypass connecting the north–south motorway with Saratoga Avenue. Improvements began on Harrow Road ( Joe Slovo Drive) to widen and deepen the road and included new bridges crossing over it at Joel Road, Alexandra Street and Barnato Street. Where Harrow Street met Louis Botha Avenue in Berea , this
782-696: The M1 motorway, heading northwards, in Braamfontein to construct a cutting through what then was known as the University Ridge. This route would separate the Witwatersrand Agricultural Society grounds and the University of Witwatersrand . Also planned was a forty-metre bridge allowing Showground Road (now Enoch Sontonga Avenue) to cross the new motorway slightly south of the new cutting. Other essential road changes became important in accessing
828-798: The M1 southern section, work was begun on the Xavier Street Bridge and the Crown Gardens Interchange. While on the M1 northern section just past the end of the new Braamfontein Railway bridge, work started on the Smit Street Interchange in Braamfontein. On the M1 North, the Goch Street double decker and its two ends, a connection to a future Westgate Interchange and Braamfontein Railway bridge, were completed. Kimberly Road reconfiguration
874-633: The Siemert Road / End Street reconfiguration, important to connecting the future eastern bypass connecting the M1 in the northern suburbs at the proposed Killarney interchange with the M2 East at the proposed Heidelberg Interchange, was nearing completion. Both road reconfigurations were situated in Doornfontein , east of the Johannesburg CBD. The Johannesburg City Engineer Department continued its engineering work on plans for Goch Street double-decker section of
920-569: The city centre as a freeway, passing Ormonde and Booysens , and meets the M2 highway (Francis Oberholzer Freeway) at the Crown Interchange (which is immediately south-west of the Johannesburg CBD ). The M1 then proceeds north-north-east through the leafy northern suburbs of Johannesburg such as Parktown , and the industrial area separating Sandton and Alexandra . The M1's northern terminus
966-657: The co-signed N12 splits off and heads east as the N12 Southern Bypass . At the same interchange, the N1 meets the M79 Rand Show Road (southbound only). The Western Bypass continues north, with the suburb of Diepkloof to the west, to intersect with the M70 Soweto Highway that connects Soweto to the Johannesburg CBD (northerly off-ramp & southerly on-ramp). Continuing north, near Riverlea, it intersects with
SECTION 20
#17328586433521012-581: The eastern CBD bypass to the M1 in the northern suburbs. M1 in the northern suburbs was extended from Houghton's 11th Avenue (R25) offramp to Glenhove Road in Oaklands . Part of the Crown Interchange connecting to the Westgate Interchange was now open. Work on the M1 South from the Crown Interchange was under construction. M1 in the northern suburbs was now completed to Bramley at Corlett Drive and connected
1058-535: The eastern bypass to connect the M1 North with M2 east was completed on Siemert Road and End Street and was awaiting the completion of the Heidelberg Interchange. In January 1971 construction started on the last section of the M1 northern motorway from Parktown to Bramley . Construction of the Crown Interchange on the M1/M2 was postponed when the tenders received were consider too expensive. Work began on improving
1104-414: The final cost while land acquisitions represented 19% of the final cost. The project moved 8.3 million cubic metres of land made up of 0.3 million cubic metres of rock, 8 million cubic metres of slime and earth. Eighty new bridges were constructed, and ten mine dumps moved. Seventy kilometres of drainage pipes were laid and 500,000 cubic metres of concreted poured. The M1 Motorway, after it opened in 1974,
1150-479: The further one proceeded from the CBD. The motorway is named after the white South African opposition leader and United Party head, Sir De Villiers Graaff . An early long-term motorway plan was envisaged for a future Johannesburg. The first was a north–south motorway of 18.4 km stretching from Westgate just south of the Johannesburg CBD to connect up with the existing main Pretoria Road, 5.6 km outside
1196-475: The future M1 North route. Planning also started on a future M1 South bridge and interchange at Xavier Street in Robertsham . Johannesburg City Engineer Department's planning was completed on the Goch Street double-decker section on the future M1 northern route. The design called for a 1,100 m section made up of a 500m double-decker motorway and two 300m sections on either end of the main section. Planning begun on
1242-522: The limit in the northern section was also dropped to 100 km/h. Both the M1 and M2 motorways have their beginnings in a 1948 traffic planning scheme developed by the Johannesburg City Council and examined by American traffic engineering consultant Lloyd B. Reid in 1954. Two 10-year plans examined among other things the idea of new urban motorways and improving existing highways. The plan called for two motorways, one running east–west along
1288-521: The motorway and Johannesburg to the Provincial and National government's N1 Ben Schoeman Highway and Pretoria . The M1 South was finally connected to Kimberley Road (now the R553 Golden Highway ) on 16 August 1974. The final cost of the twelve-year M1 and M2 project was R85.5 million through the awarding of twenty-seven contracts. The Provincial and National government's contributed R21 million of
1334-413: The opposition to the governments of three apartheid prime ministers, Johannes Strijdom , Hendrik Verwoerd , and B.J. Vorster . He led the opposition to a republic in the 1960 referendum , and stated that South Africa's membership of the Commonwealth was under threat, and the declaration of a republic would lead to South Africa being isolated internationally. The declaration of the republic along with
1380-407: The planned motorways. Booysens Road was widened to become a dual carriageway to connect with the future M1 on its southern route. The Harrow Road (Joe Slovo Drive) scheme was completed. Work continued on the Berea-Sivewright motorway bypass works. On the M1 motorway northern route, contracts were awarded for work from Braamfontein through University Ridge to Rockridge Road in Parktown. As the motorway
1426-404: The province and created jobs in construction. Three of the benefits for users of the bypass now include lighting for the full length of the bypass, increased lanes in most parts of the bypass and increased capacity at the northern interchanges with the bypass. The trade-off for this was a toll project, aimed at the entire national road network in Johannesburg. As a result, the entire Western Bypass
M1 (Johannesburg) - Misplaced Pages Continue
1472-407: The remaining sections, costing R10.3 million of which the land cost R2 million, that would connect both the M1 and M2. During October 1969, the M1 northern motorway section from De Korte Street in Braamfontein to Sherbourne Avenue, Parktown was opened. In February 1970 the Smit Street off-ramp, just north of Braamfontein Railway Bridge, opened connecting the M1 to Braamfontein. Project work on part of
1518-405: The ridge between the University of the Witwatersrand and the Milner Park Agricultural Showgrounds and then over the Braamfontein railway yards through Newtown to the east–west interchange. From there it would cross Crown Mines land and head southwards past Robertsham to another proposed interchange and future Western Bypass (N12) before ending at the beginning of the Kimberley Road. Ground
1564-404: The roads connecting to the M1 on Oxford Avenue, Corlett Drive and Jan Smuts Avenue in Rosebank. More motorway on the M1 north was opened extending it from Parktown to Houghton when the 11th Avenue (R25) offramps were completed. The Crown Interchange tender on the M1/M2 was finally awarded and a completion date set for 1974. Heidelberg Interchange on the M2 eastern section was opened and connected
1610-438: The school. Graaff succeeded his father as baronet in 1931. This baronetcy is one of twelve conferred on South Africans between 1841 and 1924. He studied law at the Universities of Cape Town , Leiden , and Oxford . In 1937, he returned to South Africa and was admitted as an advocate in the South African Supreme Court . At the outbreak of World War II , Graaff joined the Union Defence Force . He served in North Africa and
1656-423: The southern CBD and the other running to north–south on the western side of the CBD. The plan was linked to national and provincial governments plan by the National Transport Commission for the Western and Eastern Bypasses , the future N1 and N3 in northern Johannesburg. The plan for the original motorway began in Bramley at Corlett Drive and headed south through Killarney and Parktown before cutting through
1702-546: Was a South African politician who succeeded his father, Sir David Pieter de Villiers Graaff, 1st Baronet , to his baronetcy in 1931. He died in 1999 and was succeeded by his son, Sir David de Villiers Graaff , 3rd Baronet. He was the leader of the centrist United Party which was the official opposition in the then all-white South African Parliament from 1956 to 1977. Graaff was born on 8 December 1913 in Cape Town , Cape Province . He attended Western Province Preparatory School and served as head boy during his final year at
1748-566: Was already carrying around 40,000 vehicles a day in each direction while near the central CBD area, 5,500 vehicles per hour were being recorded. The M1 experiences significant traffic congestion during a typical rush hour. Several public transport systems, including bus rapid transit and the Gautrain railway system aim to alleviate some of the traffic on the M1. De Villiers Graaff Sir De Villiers Graaff, 2nd Baronet , DMS OBE (8 December 1913 – 4 October 1999) (first name De Villiers, surname Graaff ) known as Div Graaff ,
1794-407: Was also completed and would connect the road to the M1 South at the southern end of the motorway on the latter's completion. Work on the Siemert Road / End Street route making up part of the eastern bypass was completed. Empire Road and Oxford Road's connections to the M1 northern route had been realigned and re-orientated. In March 1969, the 2.4 km West Street to Braamfontein connection begun on
1840-400: Was broken for the new North-South Motorway on 28 May 1962 by Transport Minister Ben Schoeman , Administrator of the Transvaal, F.H. Odendaal and Johannesburg Mayor, Keith Flemming, just north of the Braamfontein Yards, site of the first bridge on the elevated motorway. The first section would be opened in the CBD in 1967 and rest of the motorway between 1972 and 1974. A two three-lane motorway
1886-444: Was declared an e-toll highway (with open road tolling ) with 4 electronic tolling gantries in each direction from 3 December 2013 onwards. On 12 April 2024, e-tolls in Gauteng were shut down, effectively making the entire Western Bypass a toll-free route. Very noticeably, the road is no longer concrete in construction, but has been tarred for its entire length. This spells a death-knell for its Concrete Highway nickname. As with
M1 (Johannesburg) - Misplaced Pages Continue
1932-405: Was originally part of a ring road around the southern end of the Central Business District of Johannesburg to the affluent northern suburbs , was named the De Villiers Graaff Motorway in his honour. N1 Western Bypass (South Africa) 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
1978-435: Was planned with large medians for breakdowns, elevated in the Central business district (CBD) as it crossed the Braamfontein railway yards and then became a double-decker motorway south through to an interchange near Westgate where it met the East-West Motorway (M2). The speed limit was set at between 80 km/h (50 mph) in the city, increased to 100 km/h (60 mph) and was set to reach 110 km/h (70 mph)
2024-409: Was taken prisoner of war by Axis forces during the Axis capture of Tobruk . He spent the rest of the war transitioning between German and Italian prison camps and was later appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1946 for his relief efforts among prisoners. His youngest brother was Johannes de Villiers Graaff , a noted South African welfare economist . Graaff became
2070-423: Was to become an underpass of the latter. At the southern end of Harrow Road, a flyover would cross Saratoga Avenue and would eventually connect with the redesigned Siemert and Sivewright Roads. Planning began for six-lane bridge that would have to cross the Braamfontein Railway Yard and would be part of the M1 motorway to connect the city with its northern and southern suburbs. Construction finally began in 1962 on
2116-412: Was to cross under Jan Smuts Avenue on this section, work was begun on an underpass. Work that had started on the eastern-bypass, the Berea-Sivewright Street section, was completed. At the southern end of the M1 Goch Street double-decker section, work began on the Westgate Interchange that would connect the M1 and M2 motorways, but work was problematic when mine workings below the site became an issue. On
#351648