THE barriers were lifted on Wednesday afternoon as construction crews opened the second John Ross Parkway bridge linking Empangeni Rail to the N2.
And the improvement for commuters was immediate, with driving in and out of Empangeni now well worth the long wait.
The eSikhaleni road bridge and the Empangeni Rail sections were always earmarked as the most technically challenging and time-consuming sections of the highway rebuild and rehabilitation.
Two road-over-rail bridges were built, relocating services without disrupting train movements.
This virtually brings the R1.1-billion project to a close, almost nine years after work began in October 2005.
The figure excludes R75-million contributed by BHP Billiton for a new interchange at the main access into the CBD.
The project comprised two distinct sections: from the N2 to Richards Bay (13.5km), and from Empangeni Rail to the N2 (2.2km).
Current traffic loading on the John Ross Parkway is more than 23 000 vehicles a day of which 3 085 are heavy vehicles.
