The speed limit on Road 1 between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem rose to 110 kilometers per hour last night, Walla! News reports. At the same time, new road lanes opened from Motza to Sha'ar Hagay. On Thursday, a third lane will be opened on the same stretch in the opposite direction. The speed limit on the new stretches of road is 110 kilometers per hour, in accordance with road conditions. The existing speed limits in the Harel tunnels remain in force.
The work to upgrade Road 1 included paving three lanes in each direction, elimination of sharp bends and steep inclines, and the addition of wide hard shoulders along the route. New bridges and tunnels were constructed, and the junctions at Neve Ilan, Hemed and Harel were reconfigured. Special attention was paid to landscaping and ecology, and between Sha'ar Hagay and Shoresh the largest ecological bridge in Israel was constructed, giving safe passage to animals.
The Moriah Jerusalem Development Corporation will shortly publish a tender for the construction of a multi-level junction at Ginot Saharov that will eliminate the traffic lights at the entrance to Jerusalem. The cost of the project is estimated at NIS 330 million. In addition, a dedicated public transport lane will be constructed between Motza and Jerusalem.
Minister of Transport Yisrael Katz said that the upgrade of the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway was a project of national importance. "The changes that have been introduced dramatically improve the safety of the road," he added.
Many users of public transport were, however, disappointed at the decision not to allocate the third lane on the newly upgrade stretch of road to buses, which means that the journey time between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem is not likely to be shortened for them. Gil Yaakov, director of the "15 Minutes" public transport advocacy organization, said, "Half the travelers on the road at the busiest times are passengers on public transport, and allocating a lane to public transport along its entire length would shorten the journey time to just 45 minutes and encourage use of public transport."
Gil suggested that the minister should himself experience the journey on public transport. "We are disappointed at Minister of Transport Yisrael Katz, who did not abide by his promise to allocate the third lane to buses," he said. "'15 Minutes' invites the minister to ride bus route 480 from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem next Wednesday."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 5, 2017
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