Skip to main content

South Africa's world class tollway development

Part of an extensive motorway network measuring some 185km, the ongoing Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GIFP) is creating a modern, world-class toll route system that provides major impetus to socio-economic growth in South Africa's most populous and commercially active region.
May 8, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Part of an extensive motorway network measuring some 185km, the ongoing Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GIFP) is creating a modern, world-class toll route system that provides major impetus to socio-economic growth in South Africa's most populous and commercially active region.

Being implemented in stages by the 3156 South African National Road Agency (SANRAL), these routes radiate outwards from the country's largest city Johannesburg to Pretoria's industrial and residential centres and to all points of the compass.

Already on major N1 and N3 transportation upgrades within Gauteng, previous congestion has now been replaced by free-flowing traffic that is foremost driven by business priorities that are time dependant. So too are the ensuing construction works.

National Route 12 (N12) is one of SANRAL's strategic priorities and it is here that civil engineering contractor 3038 Raubex Construction is  implementing a ACTFILE LOCATION:

• South Africa
PROJECT:
• National Route 12 (N12)
CONTRACTOR:
• Raubex Construction
EQUIPMENT:
178 Caterpillar RM500 rotary mixer
complete  overhaul on Section 19, an intensive programme running over 30 months.

Three major new interchanges, successive bridge widenings and an east and westbound three-lane highway in either direction will replace the existing N12 dual carriageway system along approximately 10km between the current Tom Jones and Daveyton on- and off-ramps.

The median reserve will be replaced by a central concrete median barrier to make room for the new lanes, which is where the roadworks begin, progressively moving from the inside out to complete the new freeway system.

This is the main access point passing into and out of Gauteng's West Rand region to the agricultural and mining heartland of Mpumalanga province.

Managing high traffic densities together with major road realignments will be just one of a number of challenges that need to be carefully managed. The N12 design calls for an emulsion and cement stabilisation mix for the sub-base layers.

"The N12 contract follows a similar pattern to the SANRAL project we completed in May 2010 for Section 1 of the R21 upgrade, which links OR Tambo International Airport with Pretoria [South Africa's capital]," explains Raubex Construction operations manager, Wouter van der Merwe.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Golden Gate Bridge gets Lindsay Transportation Solutions barrier
    March 10, 2015
    The iconic Golden Gate Bridge in California is now benefiting from the introduction of a new moveable barrier. Supplied by US specialist Lindsay Transportation Solutions, formerly Barrier Systems, and a division of Lindsay Corporation, this purpose-built moveable central divider will help maximise capacity while simultaneously boosting safety on the landmark structure. Constructed in the 1930s and first opened to traffic in 1937, the Golden Gate has coped extremely well with the years. Soundly engineered,
  • Fast flyover removal with specialist demolition equipment
    July 12, 2012
    An overcrowded Indian flyover was removed in record time using specialist demolition equipment, as Patrick Smith reports Demolition of the landmark Lalbaug flyover south of central Mumbai has been completed and work on a new bigger bridge has started in India's largest city. Although the 38-year-old Sant Dnyaneshwar (Lalbaug flyover) two-lane, one-way traffic artery was serviceable and used by to 15,000 vehicles/hour, there were daily traffic jams and environmental consequences. Despite the complex and dema
  • Mini-bridge aids Forth repairs
    July 17, 2012
    An engineering "first" means that rehabilitation work on a vital Scottish bridge built over 40 years ago can be carried out smoothly A new report to the Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA) in Scotland recommends appointing Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering of Edinburgh as 'preferred bidder' to carry out the scheduled replacement of the bridge's main expansion joints in 2009. However, the report to the bridge authority says the tender price of £13.7 million (US$21.3 million) is some £5 million ($7.8 mill
  • New bridge is spanning China’s Yangtze River
    June 28, 2013
    There is massive development in design and construction of bridges in China and the Yingwuzhou Bridge over the Yangtze River is one key project – Mike Woof reports, with assistance from Route One’s Chinese publishing partner *CMTM Called the Mother River, the Yangtze is a focal point for China politically, economically and culturally. The river has been at the heart of China’s development for millennia, its history stretching back as far as the dawn of human civilisation. The name Yangtze, or Yangzi, is its