The M1 De Villiers Graaff motorway is a metropolitan route and major

freeway 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 ...

in the

City of Johannesburg The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality () is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite se ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The highway connects the southern areas (including Booysens, Eldorado Park and

Soweto Soweto () is a Township (South Africa), 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 T ...

) with the

city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...

and extends further north through

Sandton Sandton is a financial, commercial and residential area, located in the northern part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. Formerly an independent municipality, Sandton's name came from the combination of two of its suburbs, Sa ...

into the Ben Schoeman Highway towards

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

. Construction began in 1962 and resulted in the demolition of many properties and houses including numerous historical Parktown Mansions.

Route

The M1 officially starts at the M68 (Columbine Avenue) Interchange in Southgate, Johannesburg South, just east of the

Southgate Shopping Centre Southgate Shopping Centre is a large shopping centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Southgate (just west of Mondeor) and is one of the ten largest shopping centres in South Africa, with over 160 commercial tenants. The centre ...

and west of Mondeor. South of this interchange, it is designated as the R82 towards Walkerville and

Vereeniging Vereeniging ( ; ) is a city 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 forme ...

. 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). Origins_Centre_and_M1_highway

It continues north-east towards the city centre as a freeway, passing

Ormonde Ormonde is a surname originated in Ireland (Ormonde) and Scotland (Ormond (surname), Ormond), but also occurring in England, United States, Portugal (mainly in Azores, as a variation of the scottish surname Drummond_(surname), Drummond) and Brazil. ...

and Booysens, and meets the M2 highway (Francis Oberholzer Freeway) at the Crown Interchange (which is immediately south-west of the

Johannesburg CBD The Johannesburg Central Business District, commonly called Johannesburg CBD, is one of the main business centres of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is the densest collection of skyscrapers in Africa, however, due to white flight and urban blight, ...

). The M1 then proceeds north-north-east through the leafy northern suburbs of

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

such as

Parktown Parktown is a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, and is the first suburb north of the inner city (both chronologically and geographically). It is affectionately known as one of the Parks, others including Parkview, Gauteng, Parkview, Pa ...

, and the industrial area separating

and

Alexandra Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymology, Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; genitive, GEN , ; ...

The M1's northern terminus 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

. 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 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 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, the limit in the northern section was also dropped to 100 km/h.

History

Background

Aerial view from the north 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 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 Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

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 Killarney ( ; , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Killar ...

and

before cutting through the ridge between the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

and the Milner Park Agricultural Showgrounds and then over the

Braamfontein Braamfontein ( English: ''blackberry spring'', or more prosaicly ''blackberry springs''; also known as Braam) is a central suburb of Johannesburg, in South Africa, seat of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and some of South Africa's major c ...

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 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 was planned with large medians for breakdowns, elevated in the

Central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center 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 wit ...

(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 in the city, increased to and was set to reach 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.

Construction

1956

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 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.

1958

Improvements began on Harrow Road (

Joe Slovo Yossel Mashel "Joe" Slovo (23 May 1926 – 6 January 1995) was a South African politician and Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist. A Marxist-Leninist, he was a long-time leader and theorist in the South African Com ...

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 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.

1959

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.

1962

Construction finally began in 1962 on the Braamfontein Railway Bridge in

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 the Siemert Road / End Street reconfiguration, important to connecting the future eastern bypass connecting the M1 in the northern suburbs at the proposed

interchange with the M2 East at the proposed Heidelberg Interchange, was nearing completion. Both road reconfigurations were situated in

Doornfontein Doornfontein ( ) is an inner-city suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, located to the east of the city centre. It is in Region F of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. In the 1930s, it attracted many Jewish immigrants, becoming ...

, east of the Johannesburg CBD.

1963

The Johannesburg City Engineer Department continued its engineering work on plans for Goch Street double-decker section of the future M1 North route. Planning also started on a future M1 South bridge and interchange at Xavier Street in Robertsham.

1964

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 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 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.

1965-1966

On the M1 motorway northern route, contracts were awarded for work from Braamfontein through University Ridge to Rockridge Road in Parktown. As the motorway 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 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.

1968

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 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.

1969

In March 1969, the 2.4 km West Street to Braamfontein connection begun on 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.

1970

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 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.

1971

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 the roads connecting to the M1 on Oxford Avenue, Corlett Drive and Jan Smuts Avenue in Rosebank.

1972

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 the eastern CBD bypass to the M1 in the northern suburbs.

1973

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.

1974

M1 in the northern suburbs was now completed to Bramley at Corlett Drive and connected the motorway and Johannesburg to the Provincial and National government's N1 Ben Schoeman Highway and

. The M1 South was finally connected to Kimberley Road (now the R553 Golden Highway) on 16 August 1974.

Final cost

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 the final cost while land acquisitions represented 19% of the final cost. The project moved 8.3 million

cubic metres The cubic metre (in Commonwealth English and international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or cubic meter (in American English) is the unit of volume in the International System of Units (SI). Its symbol is m ...

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.

Junctions list

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, rowspan="6", Johannesburg South , 0.0 , 0.0 , 1 - Columbine Ave , Soweto, Southgate, Mondeor , , - , 1.4 , 0.0 , 2 - Uncle Charlie's Interchange , Southern Bypass , Southbound exit and entry , - , 2.0 , 0.0 , 4 - Golden Highway , Southgate, Eldorado Park, Lenasia , Southbound exit and entry , - , 3.8 , 0.0 , 5 - Xavier Street , Ormonde, Robertsham, Ridgeway , , - , 5.4 , 0.0 , 7 - Booysens Road , Booysens , , - , 7.9 , 0.0 , 9 - Roodepoort , West to Crown, City West, Mayfair, Roodepoort , , - , rowspan="4",

, 8.5 , 0.0 , 10 - City , East , Northbound exit and entry , - , 0.0 , 0.0 , 10C - City , West , Southbound exit and entry , - , 10.1 , 0.0 , 11 - Carr Street , Newtown, Fordsburg, Johannesburg CBD , Northbound exit only, Southbound entrance , - , 10.6 , 0.0 , 12 - Smit Street , Braamfontein, Hillbrow, Johannesburg CBD , , - , rowspan="3",

, 11.5 , 0.0 , 13 - Empire Road , Parktown, Braamfontein, Hillbrow , Northbound exit only, Southbound entrance and exit , - , 12.1 , 0.0 , 14A - Jan Smuts Avenue , Parktown , , - , 12.8 , 0.0 , 14B - St Andrews Road , Parktown , Northbound entrance, Southbound exit , - , rowspan="1", Forrest Town , 13.2 , 0.0 , 15 - Oxford Road , Forrest Town , Northbound exit, Southbound entrance , - , rowspan="3", Houghton , 15.0 , 0.0 , 16 - 1st Avenue , Houghton Estate , Southbound exit Houghton Drive, Houghton , - , 16.0 , 0.0 , 17 - Riviera Road , Killarney, Houghton Estate , Northbound entrance, Southbound exit , - , 16.0 , 0.0 , 17 - 11th Avenue , Riviera, Houghton Estate , Northbound exit, Southbound entrance , - , rowspan="2", Melrose , 16.4 , 0.0 , 19 - Glenhove Road , Melrose, Oaklands , , - , 18.6 , 0.0 , 20 - Atholl / Oaklands Road , Melrose North, Abbottsford , , - , rowspan="1", Bramley , 20.0 , 0.0 , 22 - Corlett Drive , Inanda, Melrose North, Bramley , , - , rowspan="3",

, 22.3 , 0.0 , 23 - Grayston Drive , Sandton, Atholl Gardens, Wynberg, Alexandra , , - , 24.5 , 0.0 , 26 - Marlboro Drive , Morningside, Sandown, Wendywood, Marlboro , , - , 27.6 , 0.0 , 29 - Woodmead Drive , Wendywood, Woodmead, Buccleuch , , - , rowspan="3", Buccleuch , 29.2 , 0.0 , 104A - Buccleuch Interchange , Western Bypass , Northbound exit, Southbound entry , - , 29.8 , 0.0 , 104B - Buccleuch Interchange , Eastern Bypass , Northbound exit, Southbound entry - M1 ends and route continues as the N1 Ben Schoeman Highway , -

Traffic

The M1 Motorway, after it opened in 1974, 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.

Congestion

The M1 experiences significant

traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s, resulting in m ...

during a typical rush hour. Several public transport systems, including bus rapid transit and the

Gautrain Gautrain is an Higher-speed rail, higher-speed Express train, express commuter rail system in Gauteng, South Africa, which links Johannesburg, Pretoria, Kempton Park, Gauteng, Kempton Park and O. R. Tambo International Airport. It takes 15 minu ...

railway system aim to alleviate some of the traffic on the M1.

External links

*
''Jo'burg tackles the traffic jams''

References

{{Johannesburg freeways Streets and roads of Johannesburg Highways in South Africa Metropolitan routes in Johannesburg