The Platinum Highway is part of the N4, and a major

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 ...

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

built under concessions with a private contractor. In 2001, the project was voted Infrastructure Deal of the Year by Project Finance International Magazine. It took eight years to complete. The highway is part of the

Trans-Kalahari Corridor The Trans-Kalahari Corridor is a paved highway corridor that provides a direct route from Walvis Bay and Windhoek in central Namibia, through Botswana, to Pretoria in Gauteng province in South Africa. It initially cost approximately 850 million Nam ...

, which links four African countries (

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

, South Africa,

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

and

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

) and two oceans (the Indian and Atlantic). The contract had tougher concession terms than were seen in previous contracts. The ''Platinum Highway'' is the section of the N4 from the

Skilpadshek Skilpadshek (Afrikaans for ''tortoise gate'') is a border checkpoint on the South African border with Botswana, located north-west of Zeerust in North West province. The corresponding checkpoint on the Botswana side of the border is called Pionee ...

Border with

, through

Zeerust Zeerust is a commercial town situated in Ngaka Modiri Molema district North West Province, South Africa. It lies in the Marico valley, approximately 240 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg. It lies on the N4, the main road link between South ...

Swartruggens Swartruggens is a small farming town in North West Province, South Africa that was established in 1875. Location The town is located by the Elands River, 69 km from the town of Zeerust, 56 km west of the city of Rustenburg and 34 ...

Rustenburg Rustenburg (; , Afrikaans and Dutch: ''City of Rest'') is a city at the foot of the Magaliesberg mountain range. Rustenburg is the most populous city in North West province, South Africa (549,575 in 2011 and 626,522 in the 2016 census). In 2017 ...

and Brits, to the interchange with the N1 in

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 ...

(Tshwane). The concessionaire responsible for this road is Bakwena and the entire route is a

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented ...

. There are 4 tollgates on the route (one west of Swartruggens; one east of Rustenburg; one east of Brits; one at the N1 interchange).

References

Roads in South Africa Year of establishment missing {{SouthAfrica-road-stub Toll roads in South Africa

See also

References