Johannesburg is heavily dependent upon freeways for transport around the city due to its location 1,500 metres above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

, far from the coast or any major bodies of water. There are 10 freeways in the

Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite services for the city. Z ...

: 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 A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

motorways A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

colloquially. The N1, N3, and N12 form the

Johannesburg Ring Road The Johannesburg Ring Road is a set of freeways that circle the city of Johannesburg, South Africa and service the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. The entire Ring Road is an e-toll highway (with open road tolling) and is appr ...

around the city. The N14 connects the

West Rand The West Rand is the name of the urban western part of the Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation. This area became settled by Europeans after a gold-bearing reef discovered in 1886 and sparked the gold r ...

with

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foothi ...

, and could possibly form part of a future Johannesburg second outer ring road. The N17 connects the

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

and southern parts of the city with Springs on the

East Rand The East Rand is the urban eastern part of the Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation in South Africa. The region extends from Alberton in the west to Nigel in the east, and south down to Nigel. It includ ...

and the province of

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. ...

. The R21 connects the

and

OR Tambo International Airport O. R. Tambo International Airport is an international airport situated in Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to/from South Africa and since 2020, it is Africa's secon ...

with Pretoria. The R24 connects central Johannesburg to the airport. The R59 connects Johannesburg with

Vereeniging Vereeniging () is a town located in the south of Gauteng province, South Africa, situated where the Klip River empties into the northern loop of the Vaal River. It is also one of the constituent parts of the Vaal Triangle region and was formerly s ...

in the

Vaal Triangle The Vaal Triangle is a triangular area formed by Vereeniging, Vanderbijlpark and Sasolburg about 60 km south of Johannesburg, South Africa. The area forms a substantial urban complex. Meyerton, just north of Vereeniging, is also generally ...

. The M1 runs the length of the city north–south, from

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a ...

Buccleuch Buccleuch may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places Australia * Buccleuch County, an administrative division in New South Wales, Australia * Buccleuch, South Australia, a small locality and railway station * County of Buccleuch, an administrative division in ...

, where it becomes the N1. The Johannesburg-Pretoria highway is also called the

Ben Schoeman Highway 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. Opened in 1968, it is named after a former Minister of Transport Ben Schoeman, and is un ...

. The M2 runs the length of the central part of the city east–west, from

Germiston Germiston, also known as kwaDukathole, is a small city in the East Rand region of Gauteng, South Africa, administratively forming part of the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality since the latter's establishment in 2000. It functions a ...

to Main Reef Road (

R41 Road The R41 is a provincial route (South Africa), provincial route in Gauteng, South Africa, that connects Johannesburg with Randfontein via Roodepoort. Route The R41 route begins in the Newtown, Johannesburg, Newtown suburb of Johannesburg, at an i ...

) in

Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

, just south-west of the Johannesburg Central Business District. The N1 (Ben Schoeman Highway) between Johannesburg and Pretoria is now becoming severely overloaded. Reports suggest that the road carries 180,000 vehicles a day between the two cities. The road is heavily congested as traffic enters

in the mornings and leaves at night, as many people work in

but live in

. As a result, the Gauteng Provincial Government has put in motion plans to alleviate heavy traffic congestion, which is likely to worsen. One plan that was partially completed before

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

hosted the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

is the

Gautrain Gautrain is an higher-speed express commuter rail system in Gauteng, South Africa, which links Johannesburg, Pretoria, Kempton Park and O.R. Tambo International Airport. It takes 15 minutes to travel from Sandton to O.R. Tambo Interna ...

: a rapid

rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...

system with a north–south line between Johannesburg and Pretoria, and an east–west line between OR Tambo International Airport and

Sandton Sandton is an upscale commercial and residential district north of the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. It forms part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. The name of the city came from the combination of two of its suburbs ...

. The east–west line opened in June 2010, just before the World Cup. The north–south line opened from Pretoria to Rosebank in August 2011; after delays caused by excessive water seepage in a major tunnel, the Rosebank–Johannesburg section opened in July 2012. The Star and Engineering News report that three new freeways have been planned for Johannesburg: * The PWV9, linking the northern part of Johannesburg with the western part of Pretoria, aligned along the existing R80 axis known as the Mabopane Freeway. It will run parallel to the N1 and will intersect with the N14. * The PWV5, which will link the R21 with the new PWV9, crossing the N1 at the Olifantsfontein interchange. * The PWV14 will provide a new link between the existing M2 and

via

. In addition, there are plans afoot to extend the N17 from its end in Johannesburg South, to

Krugersdorp Krugersdorp (Afrikaans for ''Kruger's Town'') is a mining city in the West Rand, Gauteng Province, South Africa founded in 1887 by Marthinus Pretorius. Following the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand, a need arose for a major town in the west ...

, which will allow motorists to traverse the metropolitan area in under an hour in free-flowing traffic.

References

{{Johannesburg freeways *