Peak holiday traffic is expected to start from Thursday as most schools have broken up for the holidays and the Day of Reconciliation long weekend starts.
The Joburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) has announced numerous roadblocks on all the major exit routes from the city.
MMC for public safety Michael Sun said the City wanted to ensure that residents have a safe festive season, and that motorists take necessary safety precautions for themselves and their passengers.
The JMPD will ensure arrests at roadblocks, including motorists who use alcohol, cannabis or other substances that are still illegal in terms of national road traffic laws.
The SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) said there would be no
road construction work during the festive season, ensuring free flow of traffic.
Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona said road construction work had been halted across the 22214km of freeways to improve safety and promote trouble-free journeys for people travelling to holiday destinations.
Sanral confirmed that traffic would begin to pick up this week, becoming very heavy from Friday as the construction industry closes down.
As Christmas falls on a Tuesday, it can be expected that traffic will start peaking on the previous Friday.
The end of the holiday period is also somewhat different: New Year’s Day is on a Tuesday, and so is the day public schools reopen, on January 8. This will likely mean peak traffic on the Mondays before.
Sanral’s network stretches from the Beit Bridge Border Post in the north to the Cape Peninsula, to Alexander Bay in the west, and to the coastlines of Mozambique, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
“The national road network is, however, in good to excellent shape and able to handle increases in traffic and even extremely high volumes at certain times.
"The quality of the roads and collaboration between Sanral law enforcement agencies, provincial traffic authorities and emergency services will, no doubt, contribute to safer journeys,” Mona said.
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