UPGRADING OF SOUTH AFRICA’S NATIONAL ROUTE 3 ECONOMIC CORRIDOR BETWEEN DURBAN AND JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (Paper 828)

Traffic congestion is an unavoidable phenomenon in most countries worldwide. It necessitates the need for capacity improvements in the road network to accommodate the growth in traffic. Although the need for road infrastructure expansion is necessary, funding is always a constraint that must be managed optimally in order to avoid inefficient expenditure. Engineers are therefore obligated to manage a project in a manner in which the most efficiently engineered solution is selected which ultimately satisfies the financial budget as well as addressing the fundamental road traffic constraints.
National Road N3 between the Port of Durban on the East Coast of South Africa and the City of Johannesburg (South Africa’s economic hub) is a national route integral to the economic growth of Southern and East Africa. The route is part maintained by Sanral and part by the N3 Toll Concessionaire. A growing Southern African population, with its commensurate demand for goods, has placed this strategic corridor under severe pressure, requiring substantial upgrading to portions of the corridor. The corridor is South Africa’s key infrastructure development project and is one of the SA Governments key strategic integrated projects (SIP2) that forms part of the National Development Plan.
A key portion of the corridor is being upgraded between Durban and Cedara, over a distance of 84km. This section of the N3 carries anything between 40 000 and 120 000 vehicles per day, with a mix of urban commuter traffic, long-distance traffic and a substantial number of heavy vehicles. In addition, it carries in excess of 70 million tonnes of freight per annum, with approximately 9 000 heavy vehicles using the route every day. Add to this the anticipated increase of 12.6 million TEUs from the planned upgrade to the existing Durban port, we can appreciate the strategic and structural importance of the N3. With this kind of traffic, upgrades and ongoing road maintenance will be critical.
In addition to the capacity upgrades, there are sections of the N3 requiring major improvements from a safety consideration due to the high number of vehicle accidents involving heavy vehicles as well as the existing alignment of the N3 presenting many challenges. These sections will require complete realignment.  Managing both freight and passenger traffic on this corridor presents many challenges and needs smart and innovative engineering and funding solutions.