 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "R101" South Africa – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
TheR101 is aRegional Route inSouth Africa that is the designation for some of the old sections of roads that were previously theN1, prior to upgrading. It only has 2 sections, fromBellville toWorcester and fromJohannesburg toPolokwane.[1][2][3]
 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Location | ||||
| Country | South Africa | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Length | 95.3 km (59.2 mi) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |  R102 inBellville | |||
| Major intersections |  R300 inBrackenfell R304 nearKraaifontein R44 atKlapmuts  R45 /N1 inPaarl R301 inPaarlN1 nearRawsonville | |||
| East end | N1 nearWorcester | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | South Africa | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
The R101 starts inBellville at a junction with theR102 (Voortrekker Road), running to the east parallel to the newerN1 freeway and is namedOld Paarl Road. It then goes throughBrackenfell before enteringKraaifontein asVoortrekker Road. At the intersection with Maroela Road in Kraaifontein East it is renamedOld Paarl Road before entering theCape Winelands. In the Cape Winelands, it goes throughKlapmuts (where it meets theR44) and then enters Paarl.
South ofPaarl, the R101 is joined by theR45 to be co-signed for 6 kilometres northwards, crossing the N1 freeway, before separating from the R45 and turning right in the Paarl Central Business District (CBD). It meets theR301 in Paarl and proceeds to cross to the southern side of the N1 before it crosses theDrakenstein Mountains asDu Toitskloof Pass (820 m) where the newer N1 route bypasses as theHuguenot Tunnel.
Through the pass it rejoins the N1 for 8 km before it separates again to provide access to the town ofRawsonville. After bypassing Rawsonville, it joins the N1 again just west ofWorcester, marking its end. The R101 designation is not used again up toSandton to the north ofJohannesburg,Gauteng, which is 1300 km from Worcester.[3]
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Length | 327 km (203 mi) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end |   R55 /M11 nearSandton | |||
| Major intersections |  R564 near Sandton R562 inMidrandN1 nearCenturion R114 in Centurion N14 inPretoria R104 in Pretoria R513 in Pretoria R566 in Pretoria R576 nearBela-Bela R516 in Bela-Bela R33 inModimolleN1 near Modimolle R519 inMookgophong R520 in MookgophongN1 near Mookgophong  N11 /R518 inMokopaneN1 near MokopaneR519 nearPolokwaneN1 in Polokwane R567 in Polokwane R37 in Polokwane R71 in Polokwane R521 in Polokwane | |||
| North end | N1 inPolokwane | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | South Africa | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
The section of the R101 inGauteng andLimpopo provinces connectsJohannesburg withPolokwane viaPretoria,Bela Bela andMokopane.
It begins inSandton, north of Johannesburg. It comes fromJohannesburg Central in the south asLouis Botha Avenue (designated as theM11) and at theR55 (Woodmead Road) junction nearWoodmead, the M11 becomes the R101. Continuing northwards, the R101 meets theR564 and continues as Pretoria Main Road (later Old Pretoria Main Road) (east of the parallelBen Schoeman Freeway, which is designated as theN1) to leave Sandton and enterMidrand, where it bypasses the Midrand CBD,Halfway House Estate andGrand Central Airport before meeting theR562 (Olifantsfontein Road; Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Road) in the suburb ofRandjespark. It then leaves theCity of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and enters theCity of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality.
Its continues as the Old Johannesburg Road through the southern part ofCenturion (where it crosses to the west of the Ben Schoeman Freeway, which is still designated as the N1). It then flies over theN14 highway and passes through the western side of Centurion (where it meets the north-eastern terminus of theR114 route) before changing names again to Jan Smuts Drive inPretoria, where it merges with the northern endpoint of theBen Schoeman Freeway (which is now labelled as theN14) at Kgosi Mampuru Street (formerly Potgieter Street[4]), just after theVoortrekker Monument.
It proceeds northwards throughPretoria Central as Kgosi Mampuru Street (one-way street) (and as Sophie de Bruyn Street, formerly Schubart Street,[4] southwards up to the N14 Ben Schoeman Freeway), intersecting with theR104 road during this time. It then meets theM4 metropolitan route (which connects toHartbeespoort) before meeting theM22 metropolitan route. It becomes co-signed with the M22 eastwards up to a junction with Paul Kruger Street. While co-signed with the M22, it is Boom Street eastwards to Paul Kruger Street and Bloed Street westwards from Paul Kruger Street (one-way-streets).
As Paul Kruger Street, the R101 goes north, passing thePretoria Zoo, throughCapital Park andMayville. Just after Mayville, the R101 is co-signed with theM1 metropolitan route until the next junction, where they meet theR513 route. Here, the M1 remains as Paul Kruger Street northwards (co-signed with the R513 West) while the R101 becomes Lavender Road, the road separatingWonderboom and Annlin West, via a right turn (co-signed with the R513 East). At the next junction with Steve Biko Road (M5 metropolitan route's northern terminus), Lavender Road divides into Lavender Road West (for vehicles heading north, by way of a left turn) and Lavender Road East (for vehicles heading south) for about 1 km up to the junction with Sefako Makgatho Drive (formerly Zambezi Drive[4]), where the R513 becomes Sefako Makgatho Drive eastwards and the R101 remains as Lavender Road northwards (no-longer a one-way street).
Going north from the R513 junction, it passes by theWonderboom Airport entrance and meets the eastern terminus of theR566 road (which connects toOnderstepoort andRosslyn) before flying over theN4 highway (Platinum Highway) adjacent to theBon Accord Dam. The R101, the R566 and the M1 form a ring-road around Annlin West. After crossing the N4, the R101 becomes Old Warmbaths Road and follows theApies River north-north-east for 27 km, through Pyramid, toHammanskraal.
6 km north of Hammanskraal, just before the Carousel casino, the R101 enters theNorth West Province for about 7 km before enteringLimpopo. From Hammanskraal, it is parallel to the N1, passing throughPienaarsrivier (22 km from Hammanskraal). From Pienaarsrivier, the R101 makes a direct line forBela Bela (Warmbaths) (35 km), where it meets theR516. The R101 continues by way of a right-turn at Potgieter Road in Bela Bela and the route makes a 27 km journey north-east toModimolle (Nylstroom).
As a straight road passing through Modimolle central, it intersects with theR33. After passing the Phagameng suburb of Modimolle, the R101 turns east towards the bypassing N1 highway. At Middelfontein, right before the N1 Modimolle north off-ramp, the R101 becomes the road to the west of the N1 (Mookgophong Road, later Modimolle Road) heading north-east. After Kransvlei Farm Resort, the R101 continues by way of a left turn at the t-junction to become the straight road throughMookgophong (Namboomspruit). The distance from Modimolle to Mookgophong is 42 km.
Passing through Mookgophong as Thabo Mbeki Street, it intersects with theR519 at Second Avenue and theR520 at Nelson Mandela Drive. While mostly parallel to the N1, it journeys 51 km north-east toMokopane (Potgietersrus). 7 km south of Mokopane, where it crosses theMogalakwena River, the R101 is joined by theN11 national route to be co-signed for 11 kilometres north, becoming Thabo Mbeki Drive, up to Mokopane Central.
In Mokopane Central, next to Mokopane Mall, the R101 and N11 meet theR518 road fromZebediela and cosign with it. At the 2nd junction afterwards, the N11 and the R518 become Nelson Mandela Drive (by way of a left turn), leaving the R101 as the straight road through Mokopane North (Thabo Mbeki Drive). After the Mokopane Game Breeding Centre, the R101 turns eastwards to cross the bypassing N1 highway at its Mokopane North Off-ramp (Sebetiela Ramp Toll Plaza) and follow it north-east toPolokwane (40 km) while being on its eastern side.
As there is aPolokwane Eastern Bypass given to the N1 (opened in 2020[5]), the old road through Polokwane Central (Thabo Mbeki Street and Grobler Street), meeting the northern terminus of theR37, meeting the western terminus of theR71, turning north and bypassingPolokwane International Airport (Landdros Mare Street), has been given to the R101.[6][7]
The point where Landdros Mare Street and the Polokwane Eastern Bypass meet north of Polokwane marks the end of the R101, as the road heading north to the towns ofLouis Trichardt,Musina and the border ofBeit Bridge withZimbabwe is given back to the N1.[3]
