Known at the time as the Concrete Highway, the freeway was initially opened in 1975 as a route to avoid the city centre of Johannesburg and to provide access to the western areas of the Witwatersrand.

Continuing north, near Riverlea, it intersects with a road that is part of the proposed extension of the N17 (northerly on-ramp and southerly off-ramp).

The N1 continues north-east through the northern suburbs of Meadowhurst, Olivedale and Douglasdale before it intersects the R511/M81 Winnie Mandela Drive in Bryanston.

At this interchange, it has its north-eastern terminus, meeting the M1 highway south to Johannesburg CBD, the N3 Eastern Bypass to the East Rand in the south-east and the N1 Ben Schoeman Freeway to Midrand and Pretoria in the north.

On 12 April 2024, e-tolls in Gauteng were shut down, effectively making the entire Western Bypass a toll-free route.

As with the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project the R511 Winnie Mandela Drive and the M9/R564 Rivonia Road/Witkoppen Road interchanges were completely upgraded.