N1 Western Bypass (South Africa)

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The N1 Western Bypass.
The N1 Western Bypass.

The N1 Western Bypass, also known as the Concrete Highway, is a section of the Johannesburg Ring Road located in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. The freeway was opened in 1975. From the south, the Western Bypass begins at the Diepkloof Interchange next to Soweto, where it splits from the N12 freeway. The Western Bypass ends at the Buccleuch Interchange, where it merges with the N3 and M1 freeways. Other interchanges include Rand Show Rd, Soweto Highway, Maraisburg Road, Gordon Road, 14th Avenue, Beyers Naudé Drive, Malibongwe Drive, William Nicol Road, and Rivonia Road.

The Western Bypass is the longest section of the Johannesburg Ring Road. The freeway is mostly three lanes wide in either direction, but fans out into six lanes at Buccleuch, where there is heavy traffic moving north towards Pretoria. By creating a narrower emergency shoulder, the freeway was widened during the 1990s from two lanes to three lanes in either direction, to alleviate massive traffic congestion on Johannesburg's roads.

The Western Bypass is part of the N1 road that spans the length of South Africa, which is the beginning of the famed Cape to Cairo Road.