Motorists using the N3 just a kilometre before the Van Buuren Road off-ramp might be in for a long ride as one lane remains closed.

Sanral’s Media relations manager, Lwando Mahlasela, said on March 17 that at this stage, they have not determined how long the repairs and lane closure will take, but estimate it could last a couple of months.

“We are investigating the cause of the road surface deterioration. The latest subsidence was discovered in February 2026. However, we note that undermining in the area was reported as far back as October 2022.

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“The tunnels from the illegal mining were then subsequently closed. We then continued to monitor this area, and there was no incident until February this year,” Mahlasela explained.

He added that once they were certain of the cause of the problem, they would then finalise on the solution.

“However, in general, it will involve rebuilding the affected layers and grouting of any holes that may be found in the area.”

A motorist, Linda van den Berg, told the Bedfordview Edenvale NEWS that the closure was highly inconvenient, adding that it was taking about an hour longer to reach her destinations, a delay further exacerbated by the rainy weather.

Another road user wrote to the City of Ekurhuleni, stating that every morning heading towards the N3/N12 from the onramp is a complete disaster.

“The road is one lane; however, everyone treats it as multiple lanes. Cars are using the yellow lanes as an ordinary lane, which causes significant traffic congestion.

“Cars approaching from the yellow lane don’t care about the cars which are in the correct lane; they just push in, causing a standstill.

“For example, it took me 45 minutes to get to the Van Buuren Road off-ramp due to this,” the frustrated road user said.

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Ward 20 Cr Jill Humphreys acknowledged that Sanral had been obliged to close the lane because of significant subsidence due to zama-zama activity.

“This is due to a sizable cavity under that section of the highway that needs to be shored up.”

Meanwhile, Mahlasela said there is traffic accommodation in place while the affected lane is closed off. He added that all other lanes remain operational while they are busy with their investigations.

“We have routine road maintenance teams daily patrolling our highways to detect any areas that require attention.

“We also partnered with the Council for Geosciences on satellite monitoring of some of our high-risk areas,” Mahlasela said.