The M1 is a metropolitan route in the

eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality The eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality () is a metropolitan municipality (South Africa), metropolitan municipality, created in 2000, that includes the city of Durban and surrounding towns. eThekwini is one of the 11 Districts of South Africa, di ...

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 ...

, linking

Pinetown Pinetown is a city that forms part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, based just inland from Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The city is situated 16 km (10 mi) north-west of Durban and 64 km (40 mi) south-east of Pieterm ...

Mobeni Mobeni is a suburb of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and forms part of the heavily industrialised South Durban Basin, a sub-region south of Durban. Subdivisions Mobeni is a collective of three suburbs that lie between Chatsworth and the ...

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

via Chatsworth.

Route

The M1 officially starts at the M13 interchange (Exit 19) with the M31 Josiah Gumede Road, west of the Pinetown

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 Henry Pennington Road (previously Richmond Road). It proceeds southwards past the suburbs of Ashley, Surprise Farm, Alexander Park and Westmead before meeting the N3 highway (to

and

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King ...

) at the Exit 23 interchange. The M1 proceeds to turn in a southwesterly direction traversing through the suburbs of Mariannhill Park,

Mariannhill Mariannhill is a cluster of suburbs and townships south of Pinetown in eThekwini Municipality in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. In 1882, Trappist missionary Father Franz Pfanner established Mariannhill Monastery 16 km west of Durban. He promo ...

, Mariannheights and Mariannridge before meeting the Old Richmond Road (to Eston and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

). It then proceeds to traverse the suburbs of Nsiswakazi (where it bends eastwards), St Wendolins Ridge, Phumphele, Savannah Park and Mawelewele (where it bends southwards) before leaving Pinetown and entering Chatsworth. The M1 enters Chatsworth as a single-carriageway freeway named Higginson Highway, passing over the Moorcross Drive/Moorton Drive interchange and thereafter heading in an east-south-east direction. Shortly after, it splits into a dual carriageway, passing over the Moorcross Drive/Arena Park Drive interchange, the Shallcross Road interchange, north of Chatsworth's CBD, the Astral Drive/Florence Nightingale Drive interchange and the 42nd Avenue/Lenny Naidu Drive interchange. After 42nd Avenue, the M1 ends as a freeway and intersects with Havenside Drive before leaving Chatsworth to enter Durban in the suburb of Mobeni Heights. In Mobeni Heights, it intersects Mobeni Heights Drive before intersecting the

N2 highway N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

(to

KwaDukuza KwaDukuza, previously known as Stanger, is a town in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In 2006, the municipal name was changed to KwaDukuza (which incorporates towns such as Stanger, Ballito and Shakaskraal), but the Zulu people in the area called ...

and

Port Shepstone Port Shepstone is a large town situated on the mouth of the Mzimkhulu River, the largest river on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast of South Africa. It is located halfway between Hibberdene and Margate, KwaZulu-Natal, Margate and is positioned 120&nbs ...

) at the Exit 154 interchange. After the N2, it proceeds into the industrial suburb of

West, ending at the intersection with the R102 South Coast Road.

History

The Higginson Highway was named for a leader of the Durban City Co-Operation Housing Committee that encouraged the relocation of

Indian people Indian people or Indians are the Indian nationality law, citizens and nationals of the India, Republic of India or people who trace their ancestry to India. While the demonym "Indian" applies to people originating from the present-day India, ...

from white-only areas of Durban to Chatsworth, along the highway's corridor. There is a community-led effort to rename the highway to instead honour

Amichand Rajbansi Amichand Rajbansi (14 January 1942 – 29 December 2011) was a South African politician. He was a former chairman of the Ministers' Council of the House of Delegates Tricameral parliamentary chamber for Indian people, and leader of the Minorit ...

, an Indian leader in the community. The Higginson Highway is known for the numerous fatal accidents that happen on the road on a reoccurring basis. Some local residents attribute this to a ghost named "Sheila", thought to be a woman that hitchhikes on the road that may have died in one of the accidents, or may have committed suicide by running into traffic. A 2014 movie '' The Curse of Highway Sheila'' addressed this legend.

References

External links

eThekwini Online - Roads Home Page
Highways in South Africa Metropolitan routes in Durban Reportedly haunted locations in South Africa

Route

History

References

Further reading

External links