Is Van Reenen’s Pass obsolete?

Recent occurrences have shown once again that Van Reenen’s Pass, the section of the N3 that cuts through the Drakensberg in KwaZulu-Natal, is not the most vehicle-friendly piece of road engineering to boost the South African economy.

Notorious for its often misty, slippery and precarious roads with steep sub-standard gradients (worse than 1:7), and gale-force winds that will blow over caravans and light trucks, snowfalls in August once again brought to a standstill all traffic going through the pass. The army had to be brought in to rescue motorists and truckers from the freezing cold.

Now imagine another four-lane pass running alongside it some distance away, cutting the distance between Warden and the Tugela tollgate by 14 kilometres, and allowing one to travel at a constant speed of 120km per hour because there would be no steep gradients, with 60-80km per hour speed limits. A pass which, according to the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral), would have to be widened into a six-lane freeway capable of handling thousands of additional commercial vehicles travelling between Durban and Johannesburg in 2035.

Traffic has been increasing by the year as the economy continues its robust growth. Trucks relentlessly grind up and down Van Reenen’s Pass day and night. In 2008, Sanral reported that as many as 3 000 vehicles per hour use the pass during peak hour, and daily average traffic was 9 100 vehicles, of which 2 600 were large trucks (five axles or more) – close to a third of all vehicles.

That same year, Neil Tolmie, chief executive of the N3 Toll Concession (N3TC), told the former Natal Mercury (now The Mercury Durban) that traffic volume through Van Reenen’s Pass was at 11 000 vehicles per day and rapidly nearing the pass’s capacity, triggering the need to build a new four-lane toll highway through the Drakensberg mountains at a cost of at least R4 billion

Based on projections then, the new bypass road – De Beer’s Pass – would have to be operational before the end of 2014 when daily traffic volumes were expected to reach 13 900 vehicles.

Because of the long lead time to build the new bypass, it was likely that construction would have to begin during the second half of 2011, the newspaper reported at the time.

We are more than halfway into 2011, but now construction of the De Beer’s Pass is to start only in 2013, with completion in 2017 or the year thereafter.

The concession to design, construct, finance, operate and maintain the 415-kilometre N3 from Cedara in KZN to the Heidelberg South Interchange in Gauteng was granted to the N3TC in 1999. Included in the concession contract is the requirement to construct a new route known as the De Beers Pass Route (DBPR), between Keeversfontein and Warden.

“The contractual requirements for the opening of the De Beers Pass Section, based on the current timeline, gives the predicted commencement date of 2013; and the construction period is approximately 3.5 years,” states a recent report prepared on behalf of the N3TC.

So much for the accuracy of the N3TC’s 2008 forecast... Or are we going to experience a heavily congested Van Reenen’s Pass in the near future?

In November last year, the N3TC released a draft scoping report outlining the DBPR. It would run from Keeversfontein (Tugela Toll Plaza) via the De Beers Pass area to Warden. The route branches off the current N3 just north of the Tugela Toll Plaza, to reach the top of the KZN escarpment where it passes through a tunnel approximately 500 metres in length. It then goes around the top edge of a gorge before entering the Free State. A wetland associated with the Wilge River is crossed, and the alignment then runs close to the Wilge River before the road climbs to the more even plateau of the Free State Highveld. The Wilge, Meul and Cornelis Rivers are crossed before the DBPR rejoins the existing N3 just north of Warden, where a toll plaza is proposed. The total length of this route is approximately 97.7km.

The establishment of the DBPR has caused a furore among the inhabitants of Harrismith, Van Reenen and Swinburne because they fear it will lead to an economic meltdown and loss of job opportunities in the area.

When the now defunct South African Roads Board announced a decision to proceed with the De Beer’s route in 1995, Harrismith town clerk Johan Botha said Ladysmith had suffered a similar fate with previous realignments of the N3.

It has been reported that Harrismith could lose out on up to R950 million a year from passing traffic. Affected businesses included at least 11 petrol stations, along with several restaurant/retail outlets such as Wimpy, Nando’s, Spur, Juicy Lucy, KFC, House of Coffees and Pringles Pub and Grill.

As a transport hub, the entire region is economically dependent on the thousands of vehicles that pass through this area 24 hours a day. According to Ben Deysel, chairperson of the Greater Harrismith Business Forum and owner of the largest truck stop in southern Africa, Harrismith is home to roughly 120 000 residents; but, looking at the broader municipality, it supports 1.5 million people and provides about 80%-85% of their revenue.

Objections by landowners and other stakeholders in the area, as well as the passing of a new National Environmental Management Act, forced the N3TC to go back to the drawing board, as more requirements had to be met: it now had to provide alternative routes, as well as the option of upgrading the existing road or doing nothing at all.

In February this year, it submitted a new, final scoping report for the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process, providing two route alternatives, but ruling out the options to upgrade the existing road or to do nothing at all as “neither reasonable, nor feasible”.

Measuring 107km, Alternative A up the escarpment starts just north of the Tugela Toll Plaza and runs for a short distance almost parallel to and east of the existing N3 Van Reenen’s Pass. The route then follows the landform ridges and reaches the crest of the escarpment through a saddle immediately south of Van Reenen Village. Just north of Van Reenen village, an interchange will connect with the existing N3.

The route continues in a northwesterly direction to intersect the N3 in the Swinburne area. The route will then deviate to the north and connect with the existing N3 at an interchange before continuing across the slopes of Platberg Mountain to an interchange north of Harrismith near 42nd Hill. From this point, the route will follow the existing N3 closely to Warden, where a toll plaza is proposed.

The problem is that if Alternative A is accepted, it will come close to Harrismith, but cut through the slopes of the 4 000-hectare Platberg Reserve, which has a unique ecosystem and is rich in plant life. There are strong objections to this route.

The De Beers Pass Route: Alternative B route from Tugela Toll Plaza to Van Reenen village interchange is the same as DBPR Alternative A. At this point, the route crosses a wetland north of Van Reenen village and follows a northwesterly direction along the high ground to join the DBPR at the Lincoln Interchange. The route from there to Warden will follow the DBPR. The DBPR rejoins the existing N3 just north of Warden, where a toll plaza is proposed. The route will cross the Wilge River north of Swinburne. The total length of this route is approximately 98.3km.

Amid all the furore, a fact that seems to have been overlooked all along is that the N3TC is contractually obliged to continue to operate and maintain the existing N3 in its current form.

“Should the proposed DBPR, or DBPR: Alt B, receive environmental authorisation and be constructed, the existing N3 will remain as a public road in its current state, providing access to Harrismith and central South Africa,” the final scoping report states.

Another important point is that Harrismith is destined to become a multimodal transport hub. This was already reported in 2008 when former minister of Transport Jeff Radebe, former Free State Premier Beatrice Marshoff and Sanral CEO Nazir Alli held a meeting in Harrismith in April that year to discuss construction of a new R400-million “logistics service centre/container facility” in the town.

The Harrismith Chronicle reported at the time that a 300 000m2 parcel of land had been identified for the centre in the Industriqwa industrial area.

Current Free State Premier Ace Magashule recently confirmed that Harrismith was to become a logistics hub, relieving congestion in the Greater Durban Area through intermodal transport.

Meanwhile, the Department of Environmental Affairs has ordered that the options of upgrading the existing road or doing nothing at all be included in a forthcoming EIA. And so the cost of the DBPR, currently estimated at R6.5bn, will continue rising if no compromise is found soon.

History

Van Reenen and the pass have always been associated with transport. First it was a migratory route for hordes of animals migrating from the former Orange Free State to KZN in winter and back again in summer.

Frans van Reenen, after whom the pass is named, farmed at its base and trekked his oxen inland using the paths worn by the migrating animals. In the mid 1800s, he assisted the transport riders with laying out a route for the wagons that carried supplies to the gold mines.

The area traversed by the Van Reenen’s Pass was originally known as Underberg and there was a settlement 9km south of the present village around Wyford where the border post was between the Orange Free State and KZN. This was manned by customs officials, a dipping officer and a police station. There was also The Good Hope Hotel, a boarding house and two blacksmith shops.

In 1891, the railway line was opened; and the present village of Van Reenen came into being as all the services were taken to the top of the pass. The railway line was a massive engineering feat to negotiate the steep incline, and involved a series of tunnels and reversing stations. The latter were later replaced by more tunnels, which is the route today.

Harrismith has a history steeped in the Anglo-Boer War; this and its lookout point called Windy Corner, 1 680m above sea level, about 3km out of town, with views over the mountains and lower lying regions, are virtually all that there is to the town’s credit, apart from the Llandaff Oratory – a small chapel with only eight seats, built by a father in memory of his son, and ostensibly the smallest Roman Catholic church in the world.

The Battlefields Route, sprawled out in the valley below, is filled with arts and crafts, hiking trails and Zulu culture.

Some people have suggested that the potential is great for Harrismith to market itself as the gateway to the Drakensberg.

Udo Rypstra