In just a few short months, the R33 between Piet Retief and Vryheid has been chewed up and spat out. As they navigate the road marked by grave-sized potholes, motorists would be forgiven for thinking they had crossed over into a war-torn territory.
It’s been this way since late last year, when a flurry of coal trucks headed to Richards Bay devastated this and other roads in a bid to detour from the N2 amid community uproar over a deadly crash near Pongola. It was a sudden and relatively short-lived influx, but it was enough to tear up the road with lasting effects on small towns like Paulpietersburg, which has been in disrepair since.
SA roads are vanishing as trucks run riot | Business (news24.com)