M5 road (Johannesburg)
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| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by Johannesburg Roads Agency and Department of Roads and Transport (Gauteng) | ||||
| Length | 28.0 mi (44.9 km) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| North end |
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 Northumberland, Sundowner  John Vorster Road, Randpark Ridge   Pendoring Avenue, Blackheath | ||||
| South end |
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| Highway system | ||||
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Numbered routes of South Africa
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M5 is a long arterial route in Johannesburg, South Africa. It starts in Ridgeway in the southern suburbs of Johannesburg. It passes through Mayfair and Brixton before travelling through Melville, Roosevelt Park, Northcliff, Blackheath and traversing the N1 Western Bypass at Randpark Ridge. It passes under the N14 freeway near Muldersdrift passing through the agricultural holding before ending at Kromdraai Road in the Lindley Agricultural Holdings. The main part of the route runs along Beyers Naudé Drive.
Route
The M5 begins in the southern suburbs of Johannesburg at the intersection of Rifle Range Road (M38) in Ridgeway. As it heads northwards as Nasrec Road, it passes the industrial suburb of Aeroton before passing the Nasrec showground. It passes the FNB Stadium a venue for Premier Soccer League games to its left and the Crown Mines Golf Club to the east. Continuing northwards it passes under the Soweto Highway (M70) passing through old gold mining tailings before reaching a roundabout with an exit to the N17.
The road continues northwards as the Nasrec Road through the suburb of Riverlea and passes the George Harrison Park, commerating the place of the first gold discovery on the Witwatersrand in 1886. Passing under Main Reef Road (R41), the M5 becomes Marais Street and Du Toit Avenue in Paarlshoop.
Ending briefly at the intersection of Albertina Sisulu Road in Mayfair, it then begins again at St Jerome Avenue heading north again becoming Mercury Street. Turning right into High Street then left into Ditton Avenue in Brixton, the M5 passes the University of Johannesburg. Crossing Kingsway Avenue, it becomes Main Road entering the suburbs of Auckland Park and trendy Melville.
The road, originally called DF Malan Drive, now Beyers Naudé Drive, passes through a gorge between the Melville Koppies, a high ground with views to the northern and southern suburbs of Johannesburg and the koppies hold the archaeological record of the original black inhabitants of the Witwatersrand. Leaving the gorge, the road passes West Park Cemetery on its left and Johannesburg Botanical Garden on its right. It continues north west through the old suburbs of Randburg like Northcliff, Linden and Cresta. After passing the Cresta Shopping Centre on its right, it intersects and passes under the N1 Western Bypass a few kilometres later. Continuing north-west through Randpark Ridge it crosses over the M6, Ysterhout Drive and after 4km it intersects Christian De Wet Road and Northumberland Avenue, the R564.
Passing through Honeydew, the suburbs thins as it becomes agricultural holdings but continues north-west as Beyers Naudé Drive and intersects the R114 near Muldersdrift and shortly thereafter the N14 freeway. Passing over the freeway it continues north-east now through more agricultural holdings before ending at its northern terminus as a t-junction with the western R540.