R74 roadworks etc.

Watch more about the Maloti Drakensberg Route on CNBC (Channel 410) TONIGHT at 6pm. The show will be made up of, Maloti Drakensberg insert, Maloti Drakensberg studio interview, Underberg profile, Rhodes / Tiffindell road trip, R74 discussion

Terrible presenter on that show, but the news on the R74 is that the contractors appointed have gone into liquidation and it seems the process of appointing another contractor will take ages.
The stop/goes have been unmanned since May with trucks still using it, so its becoming quite dangerous

I stayed away from the R74 for a long time but in the last while I have started using it again. I have done it in a very small car, but take it very, very slowly. I would not do it in the dark or during bad weather. If you have high-clearance and/or 4x4 type of vehicle you will be totally fine, but even so there are a few sections where you need to concentrate. The traffic-regulation booths are partially manned but they are not regulating traffic in any way. In my subjective experience is seems easier driving toward Bergville on the bad sections, than driving towards Harrismith. It is time consuming and requires concentration but I think still worth driving if you are going somewhere like RNNP. If you are going toward Bergville/Winterton, it might still be more or less the same time-wise to travel via Van Reenen, though much longer of course.

@spook: sounds like an alternative worth investigating. I think there may also be a variation from the Swinburne area, but not totally sure.