Roads » Overview

Introduction

The Capricon District Municipality (CDM) has a total of 1108 kilometre paved roads. 567km of these tarred roads are located in Polokwane municipality and 541 km of tarred road length is in the other municipalities of CDM. In Polokwane municipality a backlog of 137km of streets for tarring exists, which is increasing yearly. The rural side of Polokwane municipality has approximately 800km of low volume roads that require upgrading and sealing. 3200 gravel road length is located in CDM giving a combined total of 4 308 total kilometres road network in Limpopo. Blading is a major maintenance high cost factor in the area. However, surface repair, road maintenance, pothole repairs, edge break repairs and bush clearing are some of the major maintenance activities undertaken in CDM. The current average cost of constructing a paved road is R2 million per kilometre, and the maintenance cost of a paved road is R0.5m rand per kilometre. However, the cost varies from one municipality to another given local conditions. Labour intensive construction costs R0.5 million per kilometre.

The Mopani District area has 3135.55 kilometers of roads. In the Greater Tzaneen Municipality the total length of tarred roads is 439.56 km and gravel roads is 593.44 km. The grand total kilometers of roads in the Greater Tzaneen area is 1033 km. For Greater Letaba Municipality, the distance of tarred roads is 150.5 km, whereas, the distance of gravel roads is 535.65 km; the total kilometers for the entire municipal area is 657.15 km. The kilometers of tarred roads in the Greater Giyani Municipality are 113 and the gravel roads distance is 605.8 km, totaling 718 for the entire municipality. The Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality has roads totaling 489.86, with 223.66 km of tarred roads as opposed to 266.2 km of gravel roads. Maruleng has 48.4km of tarred road and 188.7km of gravel roads and its total kilometers of roads is 237.54km. This reflection indicates that 975.06km of these roads are tarred and 2149.79 km are gravel. The state of roads in the district have an impact on the economic development of the area as it is clear that most roads, leading to where the majority of the district population is, are not tarred, and as such, hinder the proper transportation of people, goods and services to these areas.

The Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality (GSDM) transport network is largely limited to a number of arterials which provide regional accessibility, rather than local accessibility. From east to west, these include the N11, R25, R33, R579, R555, R37 and R36. Hence, regional accessibility is predominantly facilitated via three roads traversing the District in a northwest - southeast alignment (N11, R579 and R37), one road traversing the District in a northeast - southwest alignment (R555), and the R36. Together these roads constitute the main freight and logistics corridors connecting the District's economic activity areas to prominent provincial nodes and economic activity areas falling outside of the District - e.g. Mookgopong, Mokopane, Polokwane, Lydenburg and Middleburg. The presence of the Klein Drakensberg and Strydpoortberge hinders connectivity to the north-east.

The National road (N1) covers 150 km of surfaced road in the Vhembe District Municipality, while Provincial roads covers 762.2km of surfaced and 1145.47km of gravel roads in the district. The district surfaced roads cover 153.48 km and gravel 2021km.

Roads in the Waterberg District Municipality are adequately connected with National, Provincial, and District Roads. The primary route network includes the N1, N11, R518, R572, R33, R510, R516, and the R101. However, there is no direct route connecting the Limpopo Province and the North-West Province. There is concern on the rapidly degrading of many roads due to the increasing economic activities in the District (increase in heavy vehicles with mining materials), and a lack of maintenance and rehabilitation.