 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
.svg) | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained bySANRAL,GDRT andJohannesburg Roads Agency | ||||
| Length | 139 km (86 mi) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |  R104 inRustenburg | |||
| Major intersections |  N4 nearRustenburg R30 atOlifantsnek N14 nearKrugersdorp R28 in Krugersdorp N1 inRoodepoort R41 inJohannesburg  N3 /N12 inBedfordview | |||
| East end |  R21 atOR Tambo Int'l | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | South Africa | |||
| Major cities | ||||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
TheR24 is a major East-Westprovincial route in theGauteng andNorth West provinces that linksOR Tambo International Airport withRustenburg viaJohannesburg,Krugersdorp andMagaliesburg.[1] The section of the route from OR Tambo International westwards up to a point inRoodepoort has been namedAlbertina Sisulu Road since 2013, named after anti-apartheid stalwartAlbertina Sisulu.[2][3]
Ahead of the2010 FIFA World Cup,Johannesburg City Parks did works on the Albertina Sisulu Freeway section before handing responsibility for the freeway back to theGauteng Department of Roads and Transport.[4]
The R24 begins atJohannesburg International Airport (OR Tambo International Airport) in theEast Rand (Ekurhuleni),Gauteng. It heads west as a freeway, beginning with an interchange with theR21 (Pretoria-Boksburg highway), then heads west-south-west through the southern edge ofKempton Park (where it has a junction at Lazarus Mawela Road, formerly Barbara Road –M59) andEdenvale (where it has a junction at Lungile Mtshali Road, formerly Van Riebeeck Road/Edenvale Road –M37).[1]
InBedfordview (just after the Edenvale off-ramp), the R24 joins theN12 freeway fromMpumalanga westwards towardsJohannesburg for almost 2 km to reach the George Bizos Interchange (previously Gillooly's Interchange[5]) with theN3 highway, where the N12 leaves the westerly highway and joins theN3 Eastern Bypass southwards on theJohannesburg Ring Road, leaving the R24 as the westwards freeway into Johannesburg. Just after the interchange with the N3 & N12, it passes north of theEastgate Shopping Centre and leaves theCity of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality to enter theCity of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. Here, the R24 stops being a freeway.[1]
It passes through some ofJohannesburg's eastern suburbs in a south-westerly direction, includingBruma,Kensington andTroyeville, before entering theJohannesburg CBD and becoming two one-way streets (one going east as Albertina Sisulu Road, formerly Market Street,[6] and the other west asCommissioner Street). TheCarlton Centre, the fifth tallest building in Africa as of 2024, is located on Commissioner Street. Just before crossing under Johannesburg'sM1 freeway at the suburb ofFerreirasdorp (south ofNewtown), it intersects with the eastern terminus of theR41 road (Main Reef Road) and becomes one street westwards (no longer one-way streets). The R41 route is an alternative route to the R24 route as they both go west toRoodepoort.[1]
Next, the R24 runs west to Roodepoort. It passes through theFordsburg,Mayfair,Mayfair West,Langlaagte North,Crosby, Industria (where it continues by a left & right turn) andBosmont suburbs before it crosses theN1 highway (Johannesburg Western Bypass) at the Maraisburg junction and enters Roodepoort. After passing through theMaraisburg andFlorida suburbs, the R24 runs in a northwesterly direction through the CBD ofRoodepoort. After bypassingWestgate Shopping Centre, the R24 leaves theCity of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and entersKrugersdorp in theMogale City Local Municipality.[1]
Through Krugersdorp, it first passes by Factoria before passing through the southern end of Krugersdorp CBD, where it intersects with theR28 route. After Krugersdorp West, the R24 makes up the southern border of theKrugersdorp Game Reserve. It then heads north-west, crossing theN14 national route at Tarlton and continuing towardsMagaliesburg, which is a holiday and weekend destination for people of Johannesburg and Pretoria. On this section, just after the N14 junction, it passes by theTarlton International Raceway. It forms the main road through Magaliesburg, meeting the eastern terminus of theR509 route in the town before meeting the south-western terminus of theR560 route north of the town.[1]
After Magaliesburg in theMogale City Local Municipality, the R24 leavesGauteng and enters theNorth West Province in a northwesterly direction. It heads for Olifantsnek, where it meets the northern end of theR30 route and bypasses theKgaswane Mountain Reserve and theOlifantsnek Dam. After the Kgaswane Reserve, it crosses theN4 highway (Platinum Highway) and enters the city ofRustenburg adjacent to the Waterfall Mall. It meets theR104 (Fatima Bhayat Street) just after crossing the Platinum Highway and proceeds for another 1 kilometre north-north-east to end at a t-junction just west of theHex River.[1] The entire section of the R24 in North-West Province was regarded as anational road in September 2012 and is now maintained bySANRAL.[7][8]
By October 2013, every street and freeway that makes up the R24 fromOR Tambo International Airport,Ekurhuleni, throughJohannesburg andRoodepoort, was officially named afterAlbertina Sisulu,[9][2][3] with the only exceptions being in some one-way-street sections of the route. InJohannesburg CBD, the street for vehicles going westwards is still namedCommissioner Street (name did not change) (while the parallel street going the other direction was renamed to Albertina Sisulu Road[6]).[10] In theMaraisburg suburb of Roodepoort, the street for vehicles going eastwards is still named 9th Street (name did not change) (while the parallel street going the other direction was renamed to Albertina Sisulu Road).[11] The use of the street nameAlbertina Sisulu Road ends in the northern part of Roodepoort, at the junction with Corlett Avenue, stretching a distance of 45 kilometres from the airport.[12]
Plans to rename Commissioner Street to Albertina Sisulu Road were included initially[13] and the family of Sisulu welcomed this proposal[14] but only the one-way-street for the other direction (east), Market Street, was renamed to Albertina Sisulu Road[6] while Commissioner Street wasn't renamed.
The freeway section of the R24 was already named theAlbertina Sisulu Freeway by the time of the2010 FIFA World Cup[12] while the non-freeway section of the R24 through Johannesburg and Roodepoort was only renamed in 2013.[12]
As the R24 is known as theAlbertina Sisulu Freeway in Ekurhuleni betweenEastgate Shopping Centre andOR Tambo International Airport, the use of the name doesn't end there. TheR21 freeway was named as theAlbertina Sisulu Freeway in 2007,[9] particularly the section from itsOR Tambo International Airport interchange with the R24 north to the Flying Saucer Interchange with theN1 south ofPretoria (east ofCenturion) inCity of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality.[15][16][17] So, the R21 from Pretoria to OR Tambo International and the R24 from OR Tambo International to the Eastgate Shopping Centre inBedfordview are together known as theAlbertina Sisulu Freeway.[15]
As a result of theGauteng Freeway Improvement Project, part of theN12 freeway in theGauteng province was declared ane-toll highway (withopen road tolling) from 3 December 2013 onwards,[18] including the 2 km section in Bedfordview where it isco-signed with the R24.[19] As a result, the westward side of the co-signed section had an e-toll gantry installed just before the George Bizos Interchange with the N3 and motorists would be billed for driving on that section on the route.[19]
Many motorists complained of the Loerie e-toll being positioned on the R24, as they believed that the R24 was meant to be a toll-free route for its entire length in which nobody would be charged for transporting fromJohannesburg International Airport (OR Tambo International Airport) in Kempton Park toJohannesburg Central.[20][21] As the R24 in Gauteng is not a route maintained bySANRAL and was not indicated as a toll road, motorists and companies wondered why motorists were being charged for being on aNational Road for only 2 km on the route from Johannesburg's Airport to Johannesburg's city centre.[19][21]SANRAL then changed the signs on both highways connected (N12 and R24) so as for them to indicate that there is ane-toll ahead when travelling westwards to the N3 interchange (every lane on the N12 and R24 west cosigned section passed through the gantry).[19]
The South African government announced on 28 March 2024[22] that e-tolls in Gauteng would officially be shut down on 11 April 2024 at midnight.[23][24] As a result of the e-toll discontinuation, all the e-toll gantries, including the Loerie e-toll on the N12 and R24 co-signed section, would no-longer operate.[24]
