For years Israeli drivers dreaded the daily traffic jams on the Tel Aviv - Jerusalem highway (Road 1) east of Sha'ar Hagai on the ascent to Jerusalem. But last year amid great fanfare Minister of Transport Yisrael Katz cut the ribbon on a grandiose NIS 2.7 billion project, which transformed the highway with three lanes in each direction, new interchanges, an 800 meter tunnel and elevated section to replace the notorious Motza curve.
However, the Ministry of Transport's promise of a 30 minute drive between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem has not materialized. East of Sha'ar Hagai, the traffic flows impressively while the nightmare jams have shifted to the section of the highway west of Sha'ar Hagai. The drive on the two-lane highway between the Anava Interchange (where Road 431 crosses Road 1) via the Latrun interchange to Sha'ar Hagai can often take 30 minutes and even an hour in the morning and evening. It is worst in the direction of Jerusalem but also frequently congested en route to Tel Aviv.
But relief may come sooner than frustrated commuters may think. According to "Yediot Ahronot," Katz himself is often caught in the jam on his journeys to Jerusalem. Last week he instructed the Netivei Israel National Transport Infrastructure Co. Ltd., which is responsible for public works on Israel's highways, to convert the hard shoulder alongside the fast lane between Latrun and Sha'ar Hagai in both directions, into a third lane.
Netivei Israel engineers are now examining the quality of the asphalt and the width of the shoulder to ensure that it is suitable for such a third lane, "Yediot Ahronot" adds. Such a third lane would operate only during the hours of congestion. Such as system has already operated successfully on the Coastal Highway (Road 2) between Wingate south of Netanya and Kfar Shmarayahu north of Herzliya.
If Netivei Israel gives the green light to such a project, the third lane could be operative within a few months at a cost of just several million shekels.
The new jams have been attributed to an estimated 20% increase in traffic on the Jerusalem - Tel Aviv highway over the past year. Part of this is due to natural increase and part to more drivers choosing Road 1 over Road 443 because of the improvements east of Sha'ar hagai.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 18, 2017
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