Traffic heading into KZN is high due to the long weekend.
- With many taking an extended break over the Heritage Day long weekend the N3 is seeing increased traffic.
- Construction sites on the N3 might have contributed to congestion heading towards KwaZulu-Natal.
- An appeal has gone out for weekend travellers to carefully plan ahead, and to remain patient.
There has been an increase of traffic on the N3 heading towards Durban as many South Africans take advantage of a September break. The N3 Toll Concession (N3TC) says it’s expecting to see a continuing stream of travellers on the N3 toll route over the Heritage Day long weekend.
“While N3 Toll Concession (N3TC), the company managing the N3 Toll Route, is geared to welcome leisure travellers back to the route, we recommend all road users carefully plan their trips,” commercial manager Con Roux said in a statement.
He said that long distance journeys, especially at peak times, could place additional strain on motorists as roads become congested, with delays the order of the day.
N3TC spokesperson Anita Heyl told News24 they saw a high volume of traffic on Wednesday and Thursday on the N3 south bound heading towards Durban and they are expecting extremely high volumes of traffic heading towards the north on Sunday as people will be heading back to Johannesburg.
“There are construction sites on the N3 which might have contributed to the congestion heading towards KwaZulu-Natal,” said Hely.
“However, [on] Sunday we are not expecting the traffic to be as bad because there are no slow moving lanes due to construction,” she added.
“We strongly appeal to weekend travellers to carefully plan ahead, and to remain patient when travel conditions become demanding,” said Roux.
Hely advised travellers who can travel outside of peak hours to use the opportunity.
