An unwelcome April Fool’s joke greeted motorists at the uThongathi toll plaza on the N2 in KZN this morning, where inadequately manned booths caused huge queues in both directions.

This after Sanral today resumed charging toll fees at both the uThongathi and Umvoti toll gates, which have not charged since arterial roads like the M4 and R102 were damaged in the 2022 floods.

Motorists passing through the uThongathi Toll between 06:30 and 08:00 this morning faced over 10-minute long lines, with just one booth open in either direction at times.

When the North Coast Courier spoke to the uThongathi Toll call centre at 08:30, they said all lanes had since been opened and that the queues were a result of increased month-end traffic.

The North Coast Courier heard no similar complaints at the Umvoti Toll.

Sanral said last week that the tolls had to be reopened after the utility had lost almost R500m in revenue since toll fees were suspended in April.

For general classification vehicles, the uThongathi Toll costs R13.50, with the Umvoti Toll charging R16.50.

The southbound off-ramp from the N2 onto Watson Highway remains free, as does the northbound onramp from the Watson Highway onto the N2.

In Sanral’s view, this constitutes an alternate route around the still unrepaired M4 bridge, given the M4 is open from Westbrook southwards.

Sanral was unreachable for comment at time of publication.