As a result of the construction of Gesher Yehudit, the new pedestrian and bicycle path bridge in Tel Aviv, the Ayalon Highway will be closed on some weekends for 24 hours in the coming months starting August 31. The project will connect eastern and western Tel Aviv - the Bitzaron and Montefiore areas, which are undergoing urban renewal for businesses and homes.
Work will begin at 6:00 PM on Friday, August 31 and continue until 6:00 PM the following day. During these hours, the section of the Ayalon Highway going northward between Ganot Intersection and the Hashalom Interchange and between Holon Intersection and the Hashalom Interchange will be blocked. Traffic going southward will continue as usual, as will northbound traffic from the Hashalom Interchange.
Work is planned to continue for six weekends during the coming months, with the highway being blocked for 24 hours each time. The work is being fully coordinated with Israel Police and has been approved by the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Social Services.
Major traffic jams are liable to result where the highway is blocked. Construction of the bridge includes six steel ceilings constituting the bridge with a total weight of over 1,000 tons. The complex engineering and safety operation is taking place on the most important and congested traffic artery in Israel.
The extent and complexity of the work, including the transportation and lifting of the enormous steel ceilings, make it necessary to hermetically block all traffic of vehicles and trains on the artery. It was therefore decided that the work would take place on weekends in coordination with all the agencies involved.
The project, which is being carried out by the Ayalon Highways Company, is designed to encourage environmentally friendly and safe pedestrian and bicycle transportation and to enable residents of Ramat Gan and Givatayim to reach central Tel Aviv without using a car. The bridge will also provide more convenient access in the future to the Greater Tel Aviv light railway Red Line station at the western end of Yehudit Boulevard. There will also be easier access for residents of the Bitzaron and Yad Eliahu neighborhoods and residents of Ramat Gan and Givatayim to central Tel Aviv and its cultural center (the Cinematheque, the Tel Aviv Museum, and Heichal HaTarbut - Mann Auditorium). Residents of western Tel Aviv will be able to reach Hahaskala Boulevard Park, Galit Skate Park, Nokia Arena, etc.
The Ayalon Highway company said that the method utilized to construct the bridge would reduce the traffic disturbance and minimize disruption of the residents' daily lives, because most of the preparatory work for the bridge was being carried out in advance in a different place.
The project is being jointly managed by the Tel Aviv municipality, the Ministry of Transport, and the Ayalon Highway company. The bridge will be 110 meters long, 18 meters high, and 11 meters wide. It will be divided between a bicycle path and pedestrian path with wooden flooring. The bicycle and pedestrian paths will be separated by a seating area with street furniture and bicycle parking facilities. The top part of the bridge will be covered.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 21, 2018
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