The R54 is a

provincial route A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

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 ...

that connects

Potchefstroom Potchefstroom (, colloquially known as Potch) is an academic city in the North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstroom is on the Mooi Rivier (Afrikaans for "pretty river" ...

with Villiers via

Vereeniging Vereeniging () is a town located in the south of Gauteng province, South Africa, situated where the Klip River empties into the northern loop of the Vaal River. It is also one of the constituent parts of the Vaal Triangle region and was formerly si ...

Route

The R54 begins at a junction with the N12 National Route approximately 9 kilometres north-east of

North West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

. It heads eastwards, crossing into

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

Province and meeting the R500 Road. 62 km from Potchefstroom, the R54 passes over the N1 Kroonvaal Toll Route and enters the

Vaal Triangle The Vaal Triangle is a triangular area formed by Vereeniging, Vanderbijlpark and Sasolburg about 60 km south of Johannesburg, South Africa. The area forms a substantial urban complex. Meyerton, just north of Vereeniging, is also generally ...

. North of

Vanderbijlpark Vanderbijlpark is an industrial town with approximately 95 000 inhabitants, situated on the Vaal River in the south of Gauteng province, South Africa. The city is named after Hendrik van der Bijl, an electrical engineer and industrialist. Vand ...

(south of

Sebokeng Sebokeng () locally called Zweni by residents, is a middle-class township in the Emfuleni Local Municipality in southern Gauteng, South Africa near the industrial cities of Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging. Other neighboring townships include Evaton ...

; just after the N1 overbridge), the R54 meets the R553 Road and the R28 Route. The R28 Route stops cosigning with the R553 Road southwards and begins cosigning with the R54 Road eastwards towards

, bypassing

. After 6 km, the R54 becomes its own road eastwards as Houtkop Road by way of a left turn while the R28 turns to the south-east towards Vereeniging Central. Next, the R54 reaches a 4-way-junction with the R82 Road (Voortrekker Street) from

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 ...

at the northern end of Vereeniging Central, right next to the R59 Sybrand van Niekerk Freeway Off-ramp. At Klip River Drive, The R54 makes a left turn and makes up the northern border of the Three Rivers suburb. North of Three Rivers East, the R54 meets the R42 Road from

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

and they are cosigned southwards up to the next junction, where the R42 becomes its own road westwards into Three Rivers (General Hertzog Road) while the R54 turns to the south-east. The R54 makes a 21 km journey to meet the R549 Road near the north-western corner of the

Vaal Dam The Vaal Dam in South Africa was constructed in 1938 and lies 77 km south of OR Tambo International Airport. The lake behind the dam wall has a surface area of about and is 47 meters deep. The Vaal Dam lies on the Vaal River, which is one ...

. It continues another 50 km east-south-east, following the

Vaal River The Vaal River ( ; Khoemana: ) is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source near Breyten in Mpumalanga province, east of Johannesburg and about north of Ermelo and only about from the Indian Ocean. ...

, bypassing Vaal Marina, to end in

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

Province at an intersection with the N3 Johannesburg–Durban Freeway, in the area where the Vaal River makes up its border with

Villiers, Free State Villiers is a small town situated on the banks of the Vaal River next to the N3 highway in the Free State province of South Africa. It was founded in 1882 on the two farms ''Pearson Valley'' and ''Grootdraai'' owned by Lourens de ''Villiers''. L ...

. It meets the southern terminus of the R51 Route at the same interchange. Just before the N3 Interchange, the R54 meets a road which provides access to the town of Villiers in the Free State via a small bridge that only allows cars going one direction to cross it at a time (using a traffic light system). This is the only alternative way to cross the nearby

(Mpumalanga-Free State Border) into the town of Villiers apart from the N3. The total length of the route from the N12 junction outside Potchefstroom to the N3 Interchange near Villiers is 159 kilometres.

References

External links

Routes Travel Info
54 54 54 Provincial routes in South Africa {{SouthAfrica-road-stub