Roads are the beating heart of South Africa's infrastructure. Barry Christianson has embarked on an incredible journey across the country to capture the country's diverse roads – from dusty tracks to modern city motorways.
South Africa is almost 3.5 times the size of Germany and the car is the most important transportation system, as there is no local or long-distance public transport. The highway and road network reflects the diversity of the country in many ways and illustrates the different basic socio-economic conditions that people in South Africa encounter. Structurally weak regions are confronted with bad roads, lots of potholes and a lack of maintenance, in contrast to well-maintained 5-lane toll roads in urban areas.
Barry Christianson traveled primarily in the south and the region in and around Cape Town and captured these impressions.
The N2 is the longest numbered route in South Africa. The 2,255 kilometre road starts in Cape Town and runs along the Indian Ocean to Kwazulu-Natal (a province in the east) before turning inwards to end in Ermelo in Mpumalanga (a province in the north of Kwazulu-Natal).
A community has lived on the land in Klipfontein for at least 200 years. In 1860 the Methodist Church took custodianship of the land which is now known as the Klipfontein Mission Station. The community has been locked in a land claim battle for the past few years. An unmaintained road leading to the Klipfontein Mission Station passes under the N2.
The M5 in Cape Town, links the N2, to the left, and the N1 to the right. Here it is photographed with Devil’s Peak in the background and horses at Oude Molen Eco Village in the foreground.
In his book Under nelson Mandela Boulevard, author Sean Christie writes about the lives of Tanzanian ‘stowaways’ who lived under the national road. This photograph was made under Nelson Mandela Boulevard.
A waste processing plant is only accessible via Baden Powell Drive. In this photo waste trucks make their way down the road towards the plant. Because of it’s proximity to the beach, sand can be a hazard as it covers the lanes. Here sand is building up on a parking lot adjacent to the road. Plants can be seen growing in the sand.
Baden Powell Drive begins outside the coastal village Muizenberg and meanders along the False Bay coast passing Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha before crossing the N2 and ending in the Stellenbosch winelands. Despite having only one lane going in each direction, the road is crucial because of the places it links. Protests are often held on the road between two cities Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha as blocking major roads is one of the few ways people from those communities can make their voices heard. In this photograph Khayelitsha is in the background.
The M65 begins at Cape Point and links Red Hill, Scarborough, Ocean View and Fish Hoek. During the past summer the slopes on the right were engulfed in flames in what were some of the worst fires the area has seen. Lights and smoke from cooking fires can be seen emanating from the Red hill informal settlement on the right of the frame.
The N14 begins in The Northern Cape, South Africa’s most sparsely populated province, in a town called Springbok. The road traverses the starting province, passes above the Free State, through the North West Province, and ends in Pretoria in Gauteng. The N14 connects Namaqualand towns with limited healthcare facilities to Upington and Kimberley which are better equipped.
The unmaintained 54 kilometre dirt road that links Hondeklip Bay with Klipfontein in the Northern Cape photographed in the morning. The route is used by residents of Hondeklip Bay who need to do shopping, who need medical attention, and who work outside of their village. The state of the road makes life exceedingly hard for the residents of the village.
A road winds through Hobeni, in Dwesa-Cwebe in the Eastern Cape Province. The lack of well maintained roads has severe economic impacts on the rural areas and is a constant struggle for residents of those areas.
Nelson Mandela Bouevard bends around tall city buildings as it reaches it’s end at the Waterfront. A relatively new development which homes residents who were forceibly evicted from District Six during Apartheid can be seen on the bottom left of the frame. Table Bay lays in the background.
For many people, the Autobahn is an important part of their everyday life. A lorry driver, a road patrol driver, and an environmental activist talk about their lives with, near, and on the Autobahn.
Tokyo’s city motorway was the first Metropolitan Expressway in the world. Today it’s part of a dense network of highways extending throughout the metropolitan region – in which there are 40 million inhabitants. In this photo documentary article, Yu Minobe brings you some contemporary impressions of this road network and explains its history.
The Nairobi Expressway is intended to relieve traffic in the Kenyan capital. But right from the start, there were also critical voices. In this photo reportage, Julian Manjahi and Eliphas Nyamogo show what the structure looks like and what people have to say about it.
