The N1 is a national route in South Africa that runs from Cape Town through Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Polokwane to Beit Bridge on the border with Zimbabwe.

[2][citation needed] The N1 begins in central Cape Town at the northern end of Buitengracht Street (M62), outside the entrance to the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.

The first section of the N1 is shared with the beginning of the N2;[1] it is a four-lane elevated freeway that runs along a strip of land between the city centre and the Port of Cape Town.

[1] Major improvements have been made to the Koeberg Interchange, where the N1 meets the M5, one of the main arterial routes linking Milnerton with the Southern Suburbs.

[3] At Paarl, the freeway ends, and the N1 is tolled as it passes through the Huguenot Tunnel running underneath the Du Toitskloof Mountains;[1] the tunnel was opened in the late 1980s to replace the old Du Toitskloof Pass (now designated as part of the R101) running over the mountain.

[1] The 200 km section between Laingsburg and Beaufort West is notorious for claiming many lives in fatigue-related accidents;[7][8] also, the N1 begins to turn towards the north-east along this stretch of road.

After re-entering the Northern Cape, it passes north-east past the town of Richmond before intersecting with the N10 at Hanover.

This intersection marks the beginning of the Bloemfontein Western Bypass, which is the first freeway section on the route since Paarl.

The N8 from Kimberley in the west intersects with the N1 bypass, joining it for 3 km, before heading east through the Bloemfontein CBD and then to Maseru in Lesotho.

However, after the new N2 Wild Coast Toll Route has been completed, the N2 will be the shorter road between Durban and Cape Town (1621 km).

There, the R34 from Welkom joins the N1 freeway for 9 kilometres, bypassing Kroonstad Central to the east, before splitting from the N1 and making its own way towards Heilbron.

[1] After crossing the Vaal River, the N1 continues towards Johannesburg, bypassing Vanderbijlpark and featuring another toll plaza at Grasmere.

At the Misgund Interchange in the southern outskirts of Johannesburg, the N12 once again meets the N1, and they are co-signed northwards as one highway for 4 kilometers (bypassing Soweto) up to the Diepkloof Interchange, where the N12 splits off eastwards to become the Southern Bypass portion of the Johannesburg Ring Road.

[1] The N1 then becomes the Ben Schoeman Highway, heading northwards towards Pretoria (passing through Midrand); this section carries 300,000 vehicles per day and is purported to be the busiest stretch of road in South Africa.

[17] The South African government announced on 28 March 2024[18] that e-tolls in Gauteng would officially be shut down on 11 April 2024 at midnight.