The M1 De Villiers Graaff motorway is a metropolitan route and major freeway in the City of Johannesburg, South Africa. The highway connects the southern areas (including Booysens, Eldorado Park and Soweto) with the city centre and extends further north through Sandton into the Ben Schoeman Highway towards Pretoria. Construction began in 1962 and resulted in the demolition of many properties and houses including numerous historical Parktown Mansions.
Route
The M1 officially starts at the M68 (Columbine Avenue) Interchange in Southgate, Johannesburg South, just east of the Southgate Shopping Centre and west of Mondeor. South of this interchange, it is designated as the R82 towards Walkerville and Vereeniging. The M1 begins by heading northwards from the M68 off-ramp to reach the Uncle Charlie's Interchange with the N12 highway (Southern Bypass) in Ridgeway (west southbound interchange only). with the remainder to the South also maintained by the provincial government. The northern section maintained by the Gauteng Provincial Government is also designated the P206-1.
Speed limits, which are strictly enforced, change as one gets nearer to the centre of Johannesburg, from 100 km/h in the northern section, beginning at the Buccleuch interchange, finally dropping to 80 km/h near the city centre. South of the CBD, the speed limit again increases. Before an upgrade in 2012, the speed limit was 120 km/h on the provincial government maintained stretch in Sandton, dropping to 100 km/h as it ran through the Northern Suburbs of Johannesburg (from the start of the JRA maintained section before Corlett Drive). However, subsequent to rehabilitation work in 2012, the limit in the northern section was also dropped to 100 km/h.
History
Background
thumb|right|Aerial view from the north
Both the M1 and M2 motorways have their beginnings in a 1948 traffic planning scheme developed by the Johannesburg City Council and examined by American traffic engineering consultant Lloyd B. Reid in 1954. Two 10-year plans examined among other things the idea of new urban motorways and improving existing highways. The plan called for two motorways, one running east–west along the southern CBD and the other running to north–south on the western side of the CBD. The Harrow Road (Joe Slovo Drive) scheme was completed.
Final cost
The final cost of the twelve-year M1 and M2 project was R85.5 million through the awarding of twenty-seven contracts. The Provincial and National government's contributed R21 million of the final cost while land acquisitions represented 19% of the final cost. The project moved 8.3 million cubic metres of land made up of 0.3 million cubic metres of rock, 8 million cubic metres of slime and earth. Eighty new bridges were constructed, and ten mine dumps moved. Seventy kilometres of drainage pipes were laid and 500,000 cubic metres of concreted poured.
Junctions list
{| class="plainrowheaders wikitable"
|-
!scope=col|Municipality
!scope=col|Location
!scope=col|km
!scope=col|mi
!scope=col|Junction
!scope=col|Destinations
!scope=col|Notes
|-
|rowspan="25"|Johannesburg
|rowspan="6"|Johannesburg South
|0.0
|0.0
|1 - Columbine Ave
| Soweto, Southgate, Mondeor
|
|-
|1.4
|0.0
|2 - Uncle Charlie's Interchange
| Southern Bypass
|Southbound exit and entry
|-
|2.0
|0.0
|4 - Golden Highway
| Southgate, Eldorado Park, Lenasia
|Southbound exit and entry
|-
|3.8
|0.0
|5 - Xavier Street
| Ormonde, Robertsham, Ridgeway
|
|-
|5.4
|0.0
|7 - Booysens Road
| Booysens
|
|-
|7.9
|0.0
|9 - Roodepoort
| West to Crown, City West, Mayfair, Roodepoort
|
|-
|rowspan="4"|Johannesburg CBD
|8.5
|0.0
|10 - City
| East
|Northbound exit and entry
|-
|0.0
|0.0
|10C - City
| West
|Southbound exit and entry
|-
|10.1
|0.0
|11 - Carr Street
|Newtown, Fordsburg, Johannesburg CBD
|Northbound exit only, Southbound entrance
|-
|10.6
|0.0
|12 - Smit Street
| Braamfontein, Hillbrow, Johannesburg CBD
|
|-
|rowspan="3"|Parktown
|11.5
|0.0
|13 - Empire Road
| Parktown, Braamfontein, Hillbrow
|Northbound exit only, Southbound entrance and exit
|-
|12.1
|0.0
|14A - Jan Smuts Avenue
| Parktown
|
|-
|12.8
|0.0
|14B - St Andrews Road
|Parktown
|Northbound entrance, Southbound exit
|-
|rowspan="1"|Forrest Town
|13.2
|0.0
|15 - Oxford Road
| Forrest Town
|Northbound exit, Southbound entrance
|-
|rowspan="3"|Houghton
|15.0
|0.0
|16 - 1st Avenue
| Houghton Estate
|Southbound exit Houghton Drive, Houghton
|-
|16.0
|0.0
|17 - Riviera Road
| Killarney, Houghton Estate
|Northbound entrance, Southbound exit
|-
|16.0
|0.0
|17 - 11th Avenue
| Riviera, Houghton Estate
|Northbound exit, Southbound entrance
|-
|rowspan="2"|Melrose
|16.4
|0.0
|19 - Glenhove Road
| Melrose, Oaklands
|
|-
|18.6
|0.0
|20 - Atholl / Oaklands Road
|Melrose North, Abbottsford
|
|-
|rowspan="1"|Bramley
|20.0
|0.0
|22 - Corlett Drive
| Inanda, Melrose North, Bramley
|
|-
|rowspan="3"|Sandton
|22.3
|0.0
|23 - Grayston Drive
| Sandton, Atholl Gardens, Wynberg, Alexandra
|
|-
|24.5
|0.0
|26 - Marlboro Drive
| Morningside, Sandown, Wendywood, Marlboro
|
|-
|27.6
|0.0
|29 - Woodmead Drive
| Wendywood, Woodmead, Buccleuch
|
|-
|rowspan="3"|Buccleuch
|29.2
|0.0
|104A - Buccleuch Interchange
| Western Bypass
|Northbound exit, Southbound entry
|-
|29.8
|0.0
|104B - Buccleuch Interchange
| Eastern Bypass
|Northbound exit, Southbound entry - M1 ends and route continues as the N1 Ben Schoeman Highway
|-
Traffic
The M1 Motorway, after it opened in 1974, was already carrying around 40,000 vehicles a day in each direction while near the central CBD area, 5,500 vehicles per hour were being recorded.