Work on the 431 railway bridge, originally set for one Shabbat, will now be carried out over at least four nights.
Road 1 (the Tel Aviv - Jerusalem highway) will close for four nights next week so that work can be completed on a railway bridge over the highway at the Anava Interchange. The work had initially been set to take place last August over one Shabbat but following political pressure from the Haredi parties, it was switched to the four nights between June 2-5 from 22.30 to 04.30. The work over four nights instead of one Shabbat will be more expensive and cause more traffic disruption.
The railway bridge will be part of the 431 project linking Modi'in to Rishon Lezion's Moshe Dayan Station. The project has also been delayed due to disputes between Israel Railways and contractor Shikun & Binui Holdings Ltd. (TASE: SKBN) unit Solel Boneh. According to Israel Railway's annual report the project is due to be completed in the final quarter of 2026 but "There exists a concern that the project will be delayed due to the impact of the dispute and delays in the completion of the four sections of implementation out of the overall 10 in the project, which are being carried out by Shikun & Binui/Solel Boneh."
At the end of this week the Ayalon South will be closed at Moshe Dayan Interchange from Thursday night to late Friday afternoon so that a pedestrian bridge can be put up across the highway from the new Millennium business center. In this case Netivei Ayalon did not make any attempt to apply to carry out the work on Shabbat.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on May 28, 2024.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.
431 railway line credit: Anat Daniely Lev