Road-users should change their views on the e-tolling system as they were the ones who would benefit from improved roads and interchanges, SA National Roads Limited (Sanral) said on Thursday.
"Imagine what our roads would look like in another five years if no-one made the effort to upgrade them... all of it costs money," project manager Alex van Niekerk said in opening the R350 million upgrade to the Allandale interchange in Midrand on Thursday.
He said previous attempts to revamp the interchange failed because of a to lack of funding and that the only way the project could go ahead was by using e-tolling.
As part of its Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, Sanral plans to toll a number of highways. However, this has been placed on hold pending a probe into the proposed toll fees, which commuters criticised as too high.
Van Niekerk was confident that the upgraded interchange would make travelling on the N1 highway easier.
"You won't hear any thing about the traffic lights at the interchange, because they aren't there anymore. Everything is a free flowing system," he said.
Van Niekerk described the original interchange built in 1969 as an insignificant diamond exchange in the veld.
However, with the development of Midrand, it had become one of the busiest interchanges in Gauteng, with 200,000 trips through it a day, he said.
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