Opening of the N1 route through Ventersburg

Deputy Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga today, officially opened the improved N1 route though Ventersburg in the Free State.

The realignment of the National Road starts south of Ventersburg and ends north of the R70 bridge crossing.

The N1 is the main road transport corridor between the cities of Cape Town and Johannesburg, via Bloemfontein, and passes between the Mmamahabane Township on the eastern side of the N1, and Ventersburg on the western side. This area was identified as a high incident zone by the South African National Road Agency Limited's Incident Management Systems.

"About 80% of all learners who attend schools located in Ventersburg, reside within the Mmamahabane Township. This meant that in order for the community and learners living in the Mmamahabane Township to access Ventersburg and its schools, a dangerous crossing of the busy N1 had to be negotiated, at road level, which resulted in unsafe conditions. A high number of accidents had been reported," says Deputy Minister Chikunga.

Traffic volume on the N1 through Ventersburg is estimated at approximately 6 000 vehicles per day of which approximately 20% are heavy vehicles. Approximately 4 300 pedestrians cross the N1 on a daily basis between the Mmamahabane Township and Ventersburg.

Sanral CEO, Nazir Alli said: "The design that was adopted involved the lowering of the N1 through Ventersburg and the construction of two new bridges, at ground level to accommodate both vehicles and pedestrians, while the N1 through traffic passes safely underneath the bridges. This option accommodates all traffic movements at the existing intersections and also provides safe crossing points for pedestrians at ground level, thus eliminating the need for pedestrians to climb six metres to access a conventional pedestrian bridge across the N1."

During the improvement of this road, a number of job opportunities were created for the community. SMMEs that were employed on the contract totalled 42 at a value of R64.7 million while the number of jobs created for the local community is 309 at a value of R31.6 million. The total number of people employed on the contract amounted to 387 at a value of R36.6 million.

"As government we are committed to the ensuring that the community benefits when these type of projects are undertaken. Various training providers were utilised for community training programmes such as engineering, entrepreneurial and generic skills," says Chikunga.