Pretoria - The N1 south bound highway is likely to be closed for most of the day following last night's accident between two trucks and three other vehicles.
"It (south bound) is likely to be closed for the whole day," City of Tshwane spokesperson Console Tleane told BuaNews shortly before 10am.
Wednesday's accident, which resulted in the death of one person, was caused by a truck carrying iron rods.
The truck's brakes failed and allegedly hit another truck on the rear right hand side before plunging into three other vehicles, said Tleane.
He said the truck then hit a construction crane that was located near the Atterbury Bridge damaging it before the truck burst into flames and overturned.
Both the north and south bound carriageways of the N1 highway was then immediately closed due to the danger posed by the crane.
It was closed again this morning due to the dismantling of the crane on N1 at Atterbury Road.
"It was found not to be safe to have the route opened while dismantling is taking place," said Tleane.
Apart from the N1 highway the N4 direction west will also no longer be allowed into the N1 South.
"Traffic from N4 West will be diverted to the city centre. This is so that we alleviate congestion on the N1 South," said Tleane.
Officials have also closed the Atterbury Bridge to traffic. "The bridge is no longer safe. Motorists are advised to use alternative routes," said Tleane.
