N4 (South Africa)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "N4" South Africa – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

National route N4
Route information
Maintained by SANRAL, Bakwena and TRAC
Length	718 km (446 mi)
Major junctions
West end	A2 A2 at the Botswana border near Lobatse
Major intersections	N1 in Pretoria N12 in eMalahleni N11 near Middelburg
East end	EN4 EN4 at the Mozambican border near Ressano Garcia
Location
Country	South Africa
Provinces	North West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga
Major cities	Zeerust Rustenburg Brits Pretoria Bronkhorstspruit eMalahleni Middelburg Mbombela Malelane Komatipoort
Highway system
Numbered routes of South Africa
← N3 → N5

The N4 is a national route in South Africa that runs from Skilpadshek on the Botswana border, past Rustenburg, Pretoria, eMalahleni and Mbombela, to Komatipoort on the Mozambique border. The entire route is a toll road.^[1]

The N4 west of Pretoria, named the Platinum Highway, forms the South African section of the Trans-Kalahari Corridor, which runs from Walvis Bay to Pretoria, while the N4 east of Pretoria forms the Maputo Corridor, which runs from Pretoria to Maputo. Together, they link the east and west coasts of Southern Africa.

The eastern section from Pretoria to Middelburg is a four-lane dual-carriageway tolled freeway opened in 1968, with toll gates at Donkerhoek and just west of Middelburg. The freeway from eMalahleni to Middelburg was one of the first concrete freeways built in South Africa and the Ultra City was the first service station built on the sides of a freeway. At eMalahleni (formerly Witbank), the freeway converges with the N12 from Johannesburg. An alternative route to the N4, known as the R104, runs between Pretoria and Wonderfontein (east of Middelburg). Between eMalahleni and Middelburg the alternative is the R555. After Wonderfontein the toll road runs along the old alignment of the N4 until the Lebombo Border Post. From Middelburg to Belfast the N4 is a single-carriageway highway with two lanes in both directions; thereafter, the N4 is a wide shouldered single-carriageway highway. The section east of Middelburg has been significantly improved, including a northern bypass of Mbombela,^[2] and now features some new grade-separated junctions.