Chapman's Peak Drive
The Chapman's Peak Drive is a nine kilometer long coastal road on the Cape Peninsula south of Cape Town .
It meanders in 114 bends directly between the sea and steep cliffs along from Hout Bay to Noordhoek and leads over Chapman's Peak, a 160 meter high lookout point. Numerous tourists drive this route every day and many car companies shoot advertising in front of this backdrop.
Although the construction of the road initially seemed impossible, the project succeeded under the direction of the geologist Charl Marais. Construction work began in 1915 under sometimes life-threatening working conditions on the rocky slopes that sloped into the sea. Seven years later, in 1922, the road was opened to traffic.
Despite the prescribed maximum speed of 20 km / h, the drive on Chapman's Peak Drive was not without danger. Boulders fell over and over again and killed people. When the road was wet, many cars skidded, hit the rocks or fell into the depths.
Accidents increased and when thirty percent of the route was buried in January 2000, the road was closed. Since the public purse could not raise the money for the renovation, the road was leased to a private consortium for 30 years. Entabeni (Pty) Ltd. invested over 150 million rand in the renovation of the road. Huge safety nets were installed for falling rock and a tunnel or half- tunnel was blasted into the rock on two particularly dangerous sections of the route . In December 2003, Chapman's Peak Drive was reopened to traffic. In order to amortize the high renovation costs , the one-way trip for cars via Chapman's Peak Drive currently costs 50 Rand toll fee.
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Coordinates: 34 ° 3 ′ S , 18 ° 23 ′ E