Skip to main content

Jerusalem bottleneck route to be upgraded

The upgrading of Highway 1 between Sha'ar Hagay and the entrance to Jerusalem, Israel, a 2.5 billion NIS project (US$733 million), is expected to take five years to complete.
March 1, 2012 Read time: 3 mins
The upgrading of Highway 1 between Sha'ar Hagay and the entrance to Jerusalem, Israel, a 2.5 billion NIS project (US$733 million), is expected to take five years to complete.

Highway 1 is the main highway connecting Tel Aviv with Jerusalem, and is heavily congested, especially at the entrances to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The section between Sha'ar Hagay and Jerusalem is also congested at times because of the many accidents and breakdowns caused by the high slopes and winding nature of the section.

The latest works include shortening the route by several kilometres; expanding the road to three lanes in each direction and constructing interchanges, tunnels and bridges.

The work will be executed by INRC, which will publish tenders for the project over the coming months.

According to the plan, the road segment between the Sha'ar Hagay and Shoresh interchanges will be elevated so as not to damage surroundings and the environment. A new interchange will be built in Ramat Ilan, 700m before the Shoresh interchange, and an ecological bridge will be built that will connect the two sides of the highway and enable pedestrians and animals to cross the road.

The road to Abu Gosh, Ein Rafa and Ein Nakuba  will run under the main highway, while the old Ein Hemed Bridge will be replaced with a new bridge.

Harel interchange will also be replaced by two 650m long tunnels that will pass under the crest and improve access to Mevaseret Zion. Nearby, a park and go parking area will be built with shuttle services to Jerusalem and back.

At the Motza Curve, the dangerous section will be removed and two parallel 800m long bridges will be constructed over the Motza Valley, Arazim Valley and Arza Stream, each with three lanes.

At the entrance to Jerusalem, it is planned that the constant traffic jams will be ended with the connection to Road 9 leading to the north of the city, and Road 16 that will be constructed in the future connecting Motza to Givat Mordechai, providing an additional entrance south of the city. An interchange will be built at Ginot Sakharov.

INRC has also published a tender for the construction of an interchange at Golani Junction, one of the worst bottlenecks in northern Israel. It will become an interchange within three years. The junction lies on the roads between central Israel and Tiberias.

The project, part of the Israel Routes programme will cost some NIS 350 million ($102.5 million).

The interchange will be the first of seven interchanges that will be built along Road 77 in order to create an uninterrupted and unsignalised route from the centre to the north of Israel.

Related Content

  • Bidding opens for Israel highway upgrade
    June 28, 2012
    Bidding is now open for a key new highway connection in Israel. The tender is for upgrade work on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Highway Road 1. Israel National Roads Co (INRC) is upgrading this key link and the tender is for the second stretch of work. So far, INRC received three bids for the contract. The project involves the construction of an interchange at the Neve Ilan intersection. Bids for work on the highway have been submitted by Eyal Sela 1991, Gili and Yoel Azaria as well as Shafir Civil and Marine Engi
  • Finley’s triple bridge design-build success in Israel
    April 9, 2013
    Finley Engineering Group (Finley) is providing segmental bridge design and construction engineering services on three design-build projects in Israel. Road 722 is a US$68.9 million project in Haifa awarded to Danya-Cebus. The project’s twin precast segmental bridges have a total length of 314m and six spans. The Road 722 Bridge is said to be based on the same cross section and erection method that Finley developed for Danya-Cebus and used on the Road 431 project (5 bridges), the Section 18 Interchange (6 br
  • Israel's major road project
    March 1, 2012
    Plans are now in hand in Israel for a US$721.6 million project to widen and upgrade the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem road.
  • Israeli road deal
    March 22, 2012
    The tender has now been published by the Israel National Roads Company for the upgrade to Road No 85, a project expected to cost US$134.2 million (500 million NIS). The work includes widening and building an interchange on Roads No 85, which along with improvements to Road No 65 forms a key component of the Netivei Israel plan.