Louis Botha Avenue (part of Johannesburg Metropolitan Route '' M11'') is a major

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Originally part of the main road between central Johannesburg and

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

, it runs along through the north-eastern parts of the city from

Hillbrow Hillbrow () is an inner city residential neighbourhood of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is known for its high levels of population density, unemployment, poverty, prostitution and crime. In the 1970s it was an Apartheid-design ...

Sandton Sandton is an upscale commercial and residential district north of the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. It forms part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. The name of the city came from the combination of two of its suburbs, ...

, passing through numerous older suburbs, including

Houghton Houghton may refer to: Places Australia * Houghton, South Australia, a town near Adelaide * Houghton Highway, the longest bridge in Australia, between Redcliffe and Brisbane in Queensland * Houghton Island (Queensland) Canada * Houghton Townshi ...

and

Orange Grove Orange Grove may refer to: General *An orchard of cultivated orange trees, in the United States often called an orange grove Places and buildings Australia * Orange Grove, New South Wales * Orange Grove, Western Australia South Africa * Orange ...

, before it becomes the ''Pretoria Main Road'' (

R101 R101 was one of a pair of British rigid airships completed in 1929 as part of a British government programme to develop civil airships capable of service on long-distance routes within the British Empire. It was designed and built by an Air Mi ...

) which passes the

Alexandra Township Alexandra, informally abbreviated to Alex, is a township in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It forms part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and is located next to the wealthy suburb of Sandton. It is commonly known as ...

and continues to

Midrand Midrand is a former municipality in central Gauteng, South Africa. It is situated in-between Centurion and Sandton and now forms part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. History Midrand was established as a municipality in 198 ...

and Pretoria.

Route

Louis Botha Ave, which is part of the M11 Metropolitan Route, begins at the top of the

Johannesburg CBD The Central Business District, commonly called Johannesburg CBD, is one of the main business centres of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is the densest collection of skyscrapers in Africa, however, due to white flight and urban blight, many of the b ...

in the suburbs of

and Berea and then heads north-east passing through

to the north and

Yeoville Yeoville is an inner city neighbourhood of Johannesburg, in the province of Gauteng, South Africa. It is located in Region F (previously Region 8). It is widely known and celebrated for its diverse, pan-African population but notorious for it ...

and

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. It may refer to: Placenames Australia * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Glebe, an historic house in Sydney, New South Wales Canada ...

to the south. In Houghton it passes close to the private boys schools of St John's College (1889) and

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

school (1911). After this point the road curves and is ominously nicknamed ''Deathbend'' due to the number of car accidents at the spot. The route then enters the suburb of

, passing the new Victory Theatre (2007), the older one torn down in 2005 which has its origins aa a cinema in 1929 and renamed after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as the Victory and became a theatre in the early nineties. Radium Beer Hall is on the right. Midway through Orange Grove, the road bends northwards and passes through

Orchards An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...

and

Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne ...

and the smaller suburbs of Maryvale,

Forbesdale Forbesdale is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is a tiny northern suburb tucked between Orchards, Maryvale and Cheltondale. It is located in Region E of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. History Prior to the discove ...

Cheltondale Cheltondale is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region E of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. History The suburb is situated on part of an old Witwatersrand farm called ''Klipfontein''. It was establishe ...

Rouxville Rouxville is a small wool and cattle farming town in the Free State province of South Africa and is situated on the N6 national route. The town is at the centre of the wool producing area of the Transgariep. Rouxville is situated near a number o ...

and Hawkins Estate. The road then crosses the M20 at Atholl Road in the suburbs of

Highlands North Highlands North is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Johannesburg Region E. It is a small suburb surrounded by the suburbs of Oaklands, Waverly, Glenhazel and Orchards. History The suburb was laid out in 1903. Its name m ...

and

Waverley Waverley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Waverley'' (novel), by Sir Walter Scott ** ''Waverley'' Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel * Waverley Harrison, a character in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Stree ...

. The road crosses Corlett Drive in Bramley before ending a short distance later at the Artwright Avenue ( M40) junction in the light industrial suburb of Wynberg with the old township of

Alexandra Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "prot ...

close by. The road, still designated as the M11, continues on northwards as the Pretoria Main Road.

History

The roadway originates as far back as 1876 as a wagon track connecting the farms south of the ridge with

South African Republic The South African Republic ( nl, Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, abbreviated ZAR; af, Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer Republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it ...

's (ZAR) capital, at Pretoria. The road would pass through

Halfway House A halfway house is an institute for people with criminal backgrounds or substance use disorder problems to learn (or relearn) the necessary skills to re-integrate into society and better support and care for themselves. As well as serving as a ...

(now known as Midrand) before heading to Pretoria. Halfway House was laid out in 1890 and became the halfway mark between the two towns on the Zeedeberg coach route. The roadway has its beginnings at the apex of triangular piece of unused government land at ''Randjelaagte'' in what is now the suburbs of

and Berea. The apex is remembered by the ''Randjelaagte Beacon'' at the top of Clarendon Place. The road then headed north-east along the boundaries of the old Witwatersrand farms ''Klipfontein'' to the north and ''Doornfontein'' to the south before peeling away through the former as it drops down from the ridge crossing the small ''Lemoen Spruit'' (Orange Grove Spruit) and into the northern valley. At the bottom of the ridge the road would pass the ''Lemoen Plaas'' a farm where travelers would rest. Gold was discovered south of the ridge in 1886 and by 1889 a hotel called the Orange Grove Hotel appeared close to the old farm and was an excursion point for the early town residents. During the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

, after the British Army captured Johannesburg, a British block-house was built alongside the road near the bottom of the ridge overlooking the valley protecting the town from the Boer forces. It was still visible in 1909. The land around this area, called Alexandra Estate would be renamed as Orange Grove in 1904 and the suburb was laid out by the African Realty Trust. In 1909 a

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

line from Johannesburg would be laid down the road and would terminate in the suburb of Sydenham. The old Pretoria road obtained its existing name in 1917 when it was named after the prime minister and Boer-War general,

Louis Botha Louis Botha (; 27 September 1862 – 27 August 1919) was a South African politician who was the first prime minister of the Union of South Africa – the forerunner of the modern South African state. A Boer war hero during the Second Boer War, ...

. On 3 July 1917, the Federation of Ratepayers Association recommended to the

City of Johannesburg The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality is a Metropolitan municipality (South Africa), metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in or ...

that two main roads in Johannesburg be named after Louis Botha and

Jan Smuts Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Af ...

, in honour of their service to the British Empire during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The council voted and Morgan Road and Pretoria Main Road became Louis Botha Avenue.

Currently

A largely business street, there are some problems on Louis Botha Avenue, including

urban decay Urban decay (also known as urban rot, urban death or urban blight) is the sociological process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. There is no single process that leads to urban deca ...

caused by illegal land uses, such as shebeens. In 2014, construction began on the expansion of Johannesburg's

Rea Vaya Rea Vaya (which means "we are going" in Scamto) is a bus rapid transit system operating in Johannesburg, South Africa. It opened in phases starting on 30 August 2009. Rea Vaya links the Johannesburg CBD and Braamfontein with Soweto. It is curre ...

bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

system to Louis Botha Avenue.

References

{{Greater Johannesburg, city Streets and roads of Johannesburg