R24 (South Africa)


The R24 is a major East-West provincial route in the Gauteng and North West provinces that links OR Tambo International Airport with Rustenburg via Johannesburg, Krugersdorp and Magaliesburg. The process of renaming the streets and freeway that form the route from Krugersdorp eastward to OR Tambo International after anti-apartheid stalwart Albertina Sisulu was completed in 2013.
After passing through Central Johannesburg and some of Johannesburg's eastern suburbs, the route becomes a freeway outside Eastgate Shopping Centre in Bedfordview, a section which is maintained by the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport, part of the Gauteng Provincial Government. This freeway section of the route intersects with the N3 and the N12 at Gillooly's Interchange. There are offramps that lead to Edenvale, and parts of Kempton Park, before the road ends in the vicinity of OR Tambo International Airport, at the R21 leading to Pretoria and Boksburg.

Route

Gauteng

The R24 begins at Johannesburg International Airport in the East Rand, Gauteng.
It heads west as a freeway, beginning with an interchange with the R21, then heads south-west through the southern edge of Kempton Park and Edenvale.
In Bedfordview, the R24 joins the N12 Freeway from Mpumalanga westwards towards Johannesburg for almost 2 km, with an e-toll gantry on that section of the national road .
Many motorists have complained of the Loerie e-toll being positioned on the R24, as they believe that the R24 was meant to be a toll-free route for its entire length in which nobody would be charged for transporting from Johannesburg's Airport in Kempton Park to Johannesburg Central. As the R24 in Gauteng is not a route maintained by SANRAL and is not indicated as a toll road, motorists and companies wonder why motorists are being charged for being on a National Road for only 1 km on the route from Johannesburg's Airport to Johannesburg's city centre. But SANRAL has since changed the signs on both highways connected so as for them to indicate that there is an e-toll ahead when travelling westwards to the N3 Gillooly's interchange.
Right after the e-toll, at the Gillooly's Interchange with the N3, the N12 leaves the westerly highway and joins the N3 Eastern Bypass southwards on the Johannesburg Ring Road, leaving the R24 as the straight road west into Johannesburg. Just after the interchange with the N3 & N12, it passes north of the Eastgate Shopping Centre and crosses the border between the City Of Ekurhuleni and the City of Johannesburg and the R24 stops being a freeway.
It passes through some of Johannesburg's eastern suburbs in a south-westerly direction, including Bruma and Kensington, before passing into Johannesburg CBD and becomes two one-way streets. The Carlton Centre, the second tallest building in Africa, is located on Commissioner Street. Just before crossing under Johannesburg's M1 Freeway at the suburb of Newtown, it intersects with the R41 Road. The R41 route is an alternative route to the R24 route as they both go west towards Roodepoort.
Next, the R24 runs west to Roodepoort. It passes through the Fordsburg, Mayfair, Mayfair West, Langlaagte North, Crosby, Industria and Bosmont suburbs before it crosses the N1 Highway at the Maraisburg junction and enters Roodepoort. After passing through the Maraisburg and Florida suburbs, the R24 runs in a northwesterly direction through Roodepoort Central. At the Westgate suburb, the R24 leaves the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and enters Krugersdorp in the Mogale City Local Municipality.
Through Krugersdorp, it first passes by Factoria before passing through the southern end of Krugersdorp CBD, where it intersects with the R28 Route. After Krugersdorp West, the R24 makes up the southern border of the Krugersdorp Game Reserve. It then heads north-west, crossing the N14 National Route, towards Magaliesburg, which is a holiday and weekend destination for people of Johannesburg And Pretoria. On this section, before Magaliesburg, it passes by the Tarlton International Raceway.

North West

After Magaliesburg in the Mogale City Local Municipality, the R24 leaves Gauteng and enters the North West Province in a northwesterly direction. It heads for Olifantsnek, where it meets the northern end of the R30 Route and bypasses the Kgaswane Mountain Reserve and the Olifantsnek Dam. After the Kgaswane Reserve, it crosses the N4 Platinum Highway and enters the City of Rustenburg. It meets the R104 just after crossing the Platinum Highway and proceeds for another 1 kilometre north-north-east to end at a t-junction just west of the Hex River. The entire section of the R24 in North-West Province was regarded as a national road in September 2012 and is now operated by SANRAL.

Geography

Street name

By October 2013, every street and freeway that makes up R24 from OR Tambo International Airport, Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, through Johannesburg and Roodepoort, to Krugersdorp was officially named after Albertina Sisulu, with the exception being in the one-way-street section of Johannesburg, where the street for vehicles going westwards is named Commissioner Street while the parallel street going the other direction is still named after Albertina Sisulu.
There were plans to rename Commissioner Street to Albertina Sisulu Road and the family of Sisulu welcomed this proposal but as of 2019, the change has not taken place.
The use of the street name "Albertina Sisulu Road" ends in Krugersdorp East, at the junction with Coronation Street. From there, while being the road separating Luipaardsvlei from Krugersdorp CBD, it is known as Luipaard Street. After Krugersdorp CBD, it is known as Rustenburg Road for the remainder of its length, from Krugersdorp, through Magaliesburg, up to Olifantsnek Dam, where it enters Rustenburg.
As the R24 is known as the Albertina Sisulu Freeway in Ekurhuleni between Eastgate Shopping Centre and Johannesburg International Airport, the use of the name doesn't end there. The R21 e-toll freeway is often also called the Albertina Sisulu Freeway, particularly the section from its Johannesburg International Airport interchange with the R24 north to the Flying Saucer Interchange with the N1 near Centurion and Pretoria in City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. Together, the R24 & R21 make up the only other "highway system" after the Ben Schoeman Highway that connects Pretoria and Johannesburg.
The R21 e-toll freeway, together with the freeway section of the R24, was already named the Albertina Sisulu Freeway by the time of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.