Roads Clogged as South Africans Head Out for Easter
Every year, Easter traffic transforms South Africa’s busiest highways into slow-moving streams of families, church groups, and holidaymakers. This weekend, the spotlight is on the N3 highway between Johannesburg and Durban, with heavy traffic all the way from Thursday afternoon, peaking between 3pm and 10pm, and again on Friday morning. If you’re heading through Van Reenen’s Pass—yeah, that infamous stretch between KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State—brace yourself: it could see 1,500 vehicles per hour or more, and by the time Monday rolls around, that number might jump to 2,000 as everyone heads back home.
It’s not just Van Reenen’s Pass that will test your patience. Toll plazas like Mooi River and Marianhill are bracing for gridlock. Mooi River expects more than 1,300 vehicles an hour on peak days, while Marianhill could cram in nearly 1,800 vehicles per hour, especially late Thursday.
If you’re traveling the N1 toll towards Polokwane or heading to Moria for the annual Zion Christian Church (ZCC) gathering, traffic is set to be a beast. The Pumlani Toll Plaza is preparing for upwards of 2,000 vehicles per hour on Thursday afternoon, ballooning to a whopping 3,000 vehicles an hour by Monday when all the ZCC pilgrims—backed up by around 500 Putco buses—make their return journey.
Police Presence Steps Up; Drivers Urged to Prepare
Authorities know what’s coming and they’re not taking any chances. Extra patrols and roadblocks will dot high-risk routes, including the N4 through Nelspruit and the N2 at Libode. Officers plan to clamp down on reckless driving, drunk drivers, and maintenance issues—standard procedure every Easter, but with so much traffic, they’re stepping it up a notch.
The South Africa Road Safety Foundation isn’t just worried about congestion. Their key message: most accidents come from driver mistakes, especially drunk driving, so keep your wits about you. That means checking tire pressure, brakes, and lights before you set off. Got a first-aid kit, jumper cables, and water in your car? Good. If not, now is the time to pack them.
- Expect standstill traffic near Van Reenen’s Pass Thursday and Monday
- Pumlani Toll Plaza hit hardest by ZCC pilgrimage crowds on the return leg
- Thursday afternoon the riskiest for Marianhill Toll users
- Authorities will have frequent roadblocks along accident-prone hot spots
With this perfect storm of holidaymakers, church visitors, and regular truckers all sharing the same stretches of road, patience is about to become the top travel accessory. If you can shift your travel times away from those peak hours—even just a few hours earlier or later—you stand a far better chance of a smooth trip. If you can’t, settle in, cue up your best playlist, and drive safe.
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