Time your travel between Tshwane and Bela-Bela to avoid congestion

With the festive season in full swing, Limpopo residents are expected to be travelling home to spend some time with family, which could result in heavy traffic.

While Bakwena Platinum has assured road users that all lanes at its plazas will be open to accommodate busy conditions, planning travel times can be helpful to avoid traffic.

“There will be no construction or closed lanes along the N1N4 route as from 15 December 2021,” says Bakwena.

Bakwena spokesperson, Solomon Kganyago, says various additional measures have been ramped up along the route, including partnering with various authorities to ensure the safety of motorists travelling the route.

“An additional safety and convenience measure is the dedicated Tap and Go credit card facility available at selected plazas along the N1N4 route for South African chip enabled credit cards. Using this lane will save you time and eliminate your contact with plaza operators, thereby reducing your exposure to Covid-19,” said Kganyago.

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Debit cards and foreign credit cards are not accepted along the N1N4 route.

According to Bakwena, traffic towards Bela-Bela is expected to peak on the 15th, 16th, 17th, 24th and 31st of December, and again on the 2nd and 9th of January next year as people return to Gauteng.

The best times to travel, according to Bakwena is between midnight and 9am.

This gives road users five hours of travel time from 4am when curfew ends as per lockdown rules during alert level 1, unless they are in possession of a relevant permit.

According to the government, “any person who fails to abide by the curfew referred to in subregulation (1) commits an offence and is, on conviction, liable to a fine or a period of imprisonment not exceeding six months, or to both such fine and imprisonment.”

Between 9am and 12pm, the traffic volume increases, and from there, it is nearly impossible to travel without stopping for long periods of time due to heavy traffic.