M3 (Cape Town)

The M3 begins at a traffic light on Buitengracht Street (the M62) and runs south-east as Buitensingel Street, a dual-carriage roadway. For the next three kilometres it runs south and then east through Gardens; it changes names regularly, being named Orange Street, Annandale Road, Mill Street, and Jutland Avenue. At Roeland Street, which is numbered as Exit 1, the M3 becomes a grade separated dual carriageway and takes on the name Philip Kgosana Drive, named after an activist who led a peaceful march along the road in 1960.^[1] Prior to 2017, this section was named De Waal Drive, after Sir Frederic de Waal, the first Administrator of the Cape Province, who commissioned the road.^[2]

This section of the M3 runs eastwards across the north face of Devil's Peak to Hospital Bend, located immediately next to Groote Schuur Hospital, where it intersects with the N2 Nelson Mandela Boulevard section (formerly Eastern Boulevard).

Around Hospital Bend, the M3 is concurrent with the N2 for approximately a kilometre as a highway (with 4 lanes southbound and 5 lanes northbound); when the N2 branches off to the east as Settlers Way, the M3 runs south as Rhodes Drive past the University of Cape Town. This section of the highway forms the western boundary of the suburbs of Mowbray, Rosebank, Rondebosch, and part of Newlands. It separates these suburbs from the Table Mountain National Park, except where the Upper Campus of the University is located west of the freeway.

In Newlands, the M3 turns away from Table Mountain and the grade separation ends; there are 5 traffic lights along this section. In this area it is named variously Union Avenue, Paradise Road and Edinburgh Drive. As it passes over Wynberg Hill, the M3 attains freeway status again. This section is known officially as the Simon van der Stel Freeway and colloquially as the Blue Route. It proceeds southward through Constantia and Tokai to terminate in Kirstenhof at exit 23, an intersection with Steenberg Road (the M42). Steenberg Road connects the terminus of the M3 with Main Road (the M4) in the east, which continues southwards along the False Bay coast to Muizenberg, Fish Hoek, and Simon's Town; and with Ou Kaapse Weg (the M64) in the west, which crosses the Silvermine mountains to Noordhoek.

The M3 passes through or alongside the following suburbs:

• Cape Town CBD
• Gardens
• Vredehoek
• Zonnebloem
• Woodstock
• Observatory
• Mowbray
• Rosebank
• Rondebosch
• Newlands
• Claremont
• Bishopscourt
• Wynberg
• Constantia
• Meadowridge
• Bergvliet
• Tokai
• Kirstenhof

As of 2023, the City of Cape Town is considering expanding the M3 from its current southern terminus with the M42 (Steenberg Road) over the Westlake Golf Club up to a junction with the M75 (Boyes Drive).^[3]

In recent years, traffic on the M3 has increased significantly due to the growth of Cape Town's southern suburbs. In 2023, the City of Cape Town introduced the "M3 Congestion Relief Project," aiming to redesign several at-grade intersections between Newlands and Wynberg.^[4] The project will remove two traffic lights and three medians while adding new turn lanes and pedestrian crossings, improving capacity and safety along the M3 corridor. The City expects to start the project in the second half of 2026 and continue construction into 2027.^[5]