National route N3
Route information
Maintained bySANRAL,N3TC,eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality[2]
Length	578 km (359 mi)
Major junctions
Southeast end	Monty Naicker Street/Dr AB Xuma Road inDurban
Major intersections	N2 inDurban N11 nearLadysmith N5 atHarrismith N17 nearGermiston N12 nearGermiston N12 atBedfordview
Northwest end	N1 nearSandton
Location
Country	South Africa
Provinces	KwaZulu-Natal,Free State,Gauteng
Major cities	Durban Pinetown Pietermaritzburg Estcourt Ladysmith Harrismith Heidelberg Germiston Johannesburg
Highway system
Numbered routes of South Africa
←N2 →N4

TheN3 is anational route inSouth Africa that connectsJohannesburg andDurban,^[1] respectively South Africa's largest and third-largest cities. Johannesburg is the financial and commercial heartland of South Africa, while Durban is South Africa's keyport and one of the busiest ports in theSouthern Hemisphere and is also a holiday destination. Durban is the port through which Johannesburgimports andexports most of its goods. As a result, the N3 is a very busy highway and has a high volume of traffic.

Detailed Route

The N3 is divided into 12 sections, starting with section 1 inDurban and ending with section 12 inJohannesburg. Between the two cities, the route passes the following towns and cities:Pinetown,Cato Ridge,Pietermaritzburg,Howick,Mooi River,Estcourt,Ladysmith,Van Reenen,Harrismith,Warden,Villiers,Heidelberg andGermiston. It no longer passes through most of these towns, as bypasses have been built around all of them (the N3 does not pass through any city centres). The last bypass that was built was around the town of Warden.

The N3 begins in theDurban Central Business District at Monty Naicker Street and Dr AB Xuma Road as a dual-carriageway freeway and heads west, passing throughBerea andMayville before intersecting with theN2 highway (Durban Outer Ring Road) at theEB Cloete Interchange. It then exits the city of Durban and heads through the satellite town ofWestville before passing to the south ofPinetown. AtMariannhill, the route becomes theMariannhill Toll Road for a short section (passing through the Mariannhill Toll Plaza) as it leaves the urban area, and then heads towardsCato Ridge. From Cato Ridge, the route passesCamperdown before turning towards the northwest and heading towardsPietermaritzburg, the provincial capital.

Afterbypassing Pietermaritzburg Central to the east and north, the N3 heads up a steep incline, whereby the road ascends from an altitude of 600m to an altitude of 1,100m in a northerly direction, known as Town Hill before passing nearHilton andHowick; a road to the SouthernDrakensberg (theR617) leaves the N3 at Howick. The route then becomes picturesque as it heads through the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, passing throughMooi River (where another toll is located) before heading toEstcourt. Just past Estcourt, access to the Central and Northern Drakensberg via theR74 is provided, before the N3 heads in the direction ofLadysmith (crossing theTugela River). The N3 bypasses Ladysmith to the west, with theN11 providing access to Ladysmith Central. The N3 fromCedara (in-between Hilton and Howick) toHeidelberg inGauteng is managed by a privateconcessionaire, the N3 Toll Concession.^[2][3][4]

A few kilometres after the N11 interchange, the N3 is tolled once again; with the dual-carriageway freeway also ending at this point. From here, the N3 ascends the South African plateau viaVan Reenen's Pass; at the top of the pass, the N3 crosses into theFree State.

After crossing into theFree State, the N3 heads throughSwinburne (crossing theWilge River) toHarrismith, where theN5 leaves it (providing a route toBloemfontein andCape Town via theN1). The N3 then heads to the north, and passes the town ofWarden and heads towardsVilliers, where a tollgate is located right before theR26 Villiers off-ramp (Wilge Toll Plaza). Immediately after Villers, the N3 crosses theVaal River and entersMpumalanga. Here, it becomes a dual carriageway again and remains one for its remainder.

The N3 then heads through the south-western tip ofMpumalanga in the direction ofHeidelberg. Soon after crossing the Vaal River, the N3 meets theR54 road, which provides access toVereeniging in the west. After 23 km, the N3 bypassesGrootvlei. Just before reaching Heidelberg, the N3 has its last tollgate (De Hoek Toll Plaza); this also marks the point where the N3 crosses intoGauteng.

The N3 then continues north, crosses theSuikerbosrand River & bypassesHeidelberg before heading towardsJohannesburg. The section maintained by the N3 Toll Concession ends at theR23 (Heidelberg South) interchange south of the Heidelberg town centre^[2][3][4] and the N3 stops being atoll road.

On approachingJohannesburg, the N3 passes the townships ofVosloorus andKatlehong before bypassingAlberton. The N3 then meets theN17 toll highway at the Rand Airport Interchange nearRand Airport (each ramp onto the N17 has a tollgate). After another 1.8 kilometres north-west, theN12 (theSouthern Bypass portion of theJohannesburg Ring Road) merges with the N3 at the Elands Interchange to become co-signed with it northwards as theEastern Bypass portion of the Johannesburg Ring Road. From here, it follows much of the borderline between theCity of Johannesburg and theCity of Ekurhuleni.

The N3/N12concurrency proceeds northwards from the Elands Interchange and passes in-between the cities ofJohannesburg andGermiston (Capital ofEkurhuleni). It reaches the Geldenhuys Interchange, where it forms an interchange with theM2 highway (Francois Oberholzer Freeway), which provides access to theJohannesburg CBD in the west and the Germiston CBD in the east.

Next, the N3/N12 heads toBedfordview, where the N12 leaves the N3 at the George Bizos Interchange (previously known as the Gillooly's Interchange^[5]), joins theR24 highway eastwards and provides access to theEast Rand andO. R. Tambo International Airport. This interchange with the R24 is purported to be the busiest interchange in theSouthern Hemisphere.^[6]

From here, the N3 continues going northwards as theJohannesburg Eastern Bypass and bypassesEdenvale andAlexandra before terminating at the Buccleuch Interchange just south ofMidrand and north-east ofSandton, which is the point at which the N3,N1 andM1 converge.

Where the N3 has been realigned, the old alignment has been designatedR103. The R103 exists in three sections: betweenDurban andLadysmith, betweenWarden andVilliers, and betweenHeidelberg andJohannesburg.^[1] The only exception is withinDurban itself, where most of the old N3 alignment is designated as theM13 instead of having the usual R103 designation; the R103 diverges from the M13 inGillitts just outside Durban.

The R103 is typically used to avoid the toll plazas on the N3, with one notable exception being the Tugela East Toll Plaza located on the R103 itself where the R103 and N3 meet north-west ofLadysmith.

Prior to the redesignation of the National Route numbers in 1971, the N3 moved east at Heidelberg and passed through the towns ofStanderton,Volksrust andNewcastle viaLaing's Nek Pass, before joining the present alignment at Ladysmith. This route, now designatedR23 between Heidelberg and Volksrust andN11 thereafter to Ladysmith, remains an alternative to the N3.^[7]

Following the opening of the motorway section in December 2001 betweenHeidelberg andVilliers, the N3 now has at least two lanes in each direction for its entire length between Johannesburg and Durban. The section between Johannesburg and Villiers is dual carriageway motorway. Between Villiers and Warden the road is single carriageway motorway with two lanes in each direction. From Warden to Keeversfontein (Tugela Toll Plaza;Ladysmith) the road is no longer motorway but retains two lanes in each direction. Thereafter, the route to Durban is dual carriageway motorway. This last section from Ladysmith to Durban is the third longest motorway by route number (after the N1 between theVaal River andModimolle and theN4 between Marikana and Wonderfontein), but the longest motorway following one alignment in South Africa.

The N3 Toll Concession (N3TC) entered into a 30-year toll road concession contract withSANRAL on 2 November 1999 to manage the section of the N3 national route from Cedara (in-betweenHilton andHowick) inKwaZulu-Natal to theR23 interchange on the southern side ofHeidelberg inGauteng, approximately 418 kilometres in length.^[2][3][4][8] The concession will expire in 2029.^[2][8]

SANRAL proposed plans to re-route one section of the N3 between Keeversfontein (Tugela Toll Plaza) near Ladysmith, and the start of the tolled section nearWarden, probably meeting the present alignment just south of Warden. This would involve the diversion of the road overDe Beer's Pass, as opposed to Van Reenen's Pass. Not only would it reduce the route distance by 14 kilometres, but would have a lower gradient.^[9] Proponents of the new road argue that the existing Van Reenen's Pass is too steep for heavy trucks and exceeds the maximum gradient of 1:7 for an officially declared national road. This has caused a huge outcry among residents of Harrismith and Van Reenen, who rely on passing traffic to sustain businesses such as restaurants, petrol stations, and holiday rest places.^{[citation needed]}

TheN3 Toll Concession had stated that the De Beer's bypass would be required when daily traffic volumes reach 13,900 vehicles - the traffic volumes at Van Reenen as of 2008 was 11,000 vehicles, and based on projected increases in traffic volumes, the bypass would have needed to be operational by the end of 2014, with construction commencing in the second half of 2011. This proposed new routing of the N3 would also have a new toll plaza built on it near Warden.^[10]

In March 2017, it was decided bySANRAL that the construction of the De Beer's Pass route will not continue.^[11][12][13]

Most of the road is only usable upon the payment of toll. There are toll plazas atMariannhill (Pinetown),Mooi River, Tugela (Ladysmith), Wilge (Villiers) and De Hoek (Heidelberg). As mentioned above, most of the toll plazas can be avoided by using the R103.^[14]

A sixth toll plaza would have been constructed south of Warden when the De Beer's bypass (mentioned above) would have been built.^[10]

Open road tolling of the northernmost part of the N3 inGauteng, from the Heidelberg Road (R554) interchange in Alberton to the Buccleuch (N1) interchange in Sandton, came into effect from December 2013 as thee-toll system.^[15] There were 4 electronic toll gantries in each direction located on this stretch and each gantry had its own prices charged to each type of vehicle (labelled on road signage as one approaches the gantry). However, the e-toll system was shut down on 12 April 2024,^[16][17][18] making this section of the N3 a toll-free highway from then onwards.

A stretch of the N3 in the Free State is particularly known for moving light apparitions. A notable incident, reported as a UFO sighting, occurred on 8 May 2000 when a police inspector claimed to have observed an approaching UFO while travelling on the N3 freeway, 70 km north ofWarden in the easternFree State province. The orange, oval-shaped craft was fitted with two cupolas, one above and another below, and was wide enough to cover four lanes of the freeway. After a close approach the craft receded again.^[19]

28°18′56″S29°11′56″E / 28.315678°S 29.198914°E /-28.315678; 29.198914

• N3 (South Africa)
• National routes in South Africa
• Toll roads in South Africa
• Transport in Durban
• Highways in South Africa
• Streets and roads of Johannesburg
• Roads in South Africa

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