Plans to construct a direct route connecting Lusikisiki to Port Edward date back to 1978 when the then Transkei Department of Works and Energy appointed HHO Africa to investigate feasible options. Their 1979 preliminary report identified two primary route options, one coastal and the other an inland road.

In subsequent years (1980 – 1987), further investigations were conducted and reports produced on the preferred inland route, referred to as the “Red Route” at the time. The “Red Route”, which makes up a large part of the greenfields portion of the current N2WCR, was later included in the South African National Department of Transport (NDoT’s) Primary Road Network Plan.

The Development Bank of Southern Africa’s Spatial Development Initiative, a government plan to identify key regions that could stimulate economic development in the post-apartheid era to promote investment, was launched in 1995 and identified the Wild Coast SDI as one such project to boost the agri-tourism sector in the area, further supporting the need for the road.

After the NDoT’s site visit to the Wild Coast in 1997, the N2 Wild Coast Consortium was established and undertook the initial concept design development for the N2WCR. In 2000, an unsolicited bid for the construction of the N2WCR was issued and included the “Red Route” as part of the overall toll road development.

An RoD for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) granted in 2003 was appealed and set aside, with a new Environmental Impact Study conducted and its RoD published in 2010 by the Department of Environmental Affairs.

Work on the Lusikisiki to Port Edward portion of the N2WCR started in late 2016 with the construction of the haul roads leading to the Msikaba and Mtentu mega-bridge sites. Construction of the Mtentu Bridge started in January 2018 and the Msikaba Bridge site was handed over to the Concor Mota-Engil JV in January 2019.

The much shorter new route will reduce travel time as well as carbon emissions, and improve road safety. It will boost local economic opportunities in agriculture, tourism and the hospitality industry.