Upgrades at toll plazas along the N4 at Marikana and Brits will begin this month. The roadworks will see the addition of two lanes at both plazas, one in each direction.

These upgrades are part of a R160 million project undertaken by the Bakwena Platinum Corridor Concessioniare, operator of the N1 and N4 freeways.

Liam Clarke, commercial manager of Bakwena, said the upgrade at Brits and Marikana meant that the extra wide lanes westbound will be closed for abnormal vehicles for seven months starting from 10 April 2017.

“There may be some variance to this period depending on weather conditions, but the scheduled completion date is October 2017,” Clarke said.

Alternative routes have been implemented for abnormal trucks using this route over the next eight months while the toll plaza upgrade is underway.

Abnormal vehicles will need to follow the alternative route signage that has been provided along the route.

“The Brits alternative route will consist of the K25, R566 and R512, while the Marikana alternative route will consist of the Buffelspoort ramp, the R104 and Kroondal ramp,” Clarke said.

Last December, additional lanes were added at the Zambesi, Pumulani, Stormvoël and Doornpoort toll plazas. Bakwena said these additions were already reducing delays during peak periods.

“The initial upgrade at the Zambesi toll plaza has already been assessed and resulted in a 20 minute saving on commuter driving time,” Bakwena said in a statement. “The time savings on the more newly completed plazas at Stormvoël, Pumulani and Doornpoort are still being evaluated.”

The company indicated that the upgrade at Doornpoort has so far led to a 15% increase in vehicles per hour (vph) during peak periods, amounting to an increase from 3,300 to 3,800 vph.

In addition to including new e-tag lanes in the upgrades of each toll plaza, Bakwena said it was also incentivising toll road users to switch from manual payment to e-tags.

Clarke said the use of e-tags was convenient and benefits motorists by “considerably speeding up their transit through the electronic toll collection lanes”.