Work on the construction of the Yehudit pedestrian bridge will begin this weekend, the Tel Aviv municipality announced today. Following a decade of planning, work on the bridge was scheduled to begin six months ago, but was called off due to opposition by the haredi (Jewish ultra-Orthodox) political parties to Sabbath desecration. Minister of Transport and Intelligence Yisrael Katz ordered suspension of the work, which required closing down the Ayalon Highway for six consecutive weekends. The Tel Aviv municipality responded by petitioning the High Court of Justice demanding that the minister of transport be ordered to explain why he suspended the work.
The Tel Aviv municipality notified the Supreme Court in writing, "The necessary processes were completed," meaning that approvals for working on the Sabbath were obtained. Minister of Welfare and Social Services Haim Katz, who was also involved in the project, demanded that the Ayalon Highway Company carrying out the project present alternatives for the work in order to reduce Sabbath desecration as much as possible.
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said today, "As I always said, the Yehudit bridge will be built. The minister of transport had to give in and order the continuation of the work. It is a pity that such an important project was delayed for political reasons."
At the same time, work on putting up steel gantries for railway electrification between the La Guardia and Hashalom Ayalon Highway interchanges will begin at 5 pm this Friday and continue until the next day. The second putting up of gantries is scheduled for Friday February 1, 2019 between the Keren Kayemet and La Guardia interchanges. The next four rounds of work are planned for weekends in March and April, with the Ayalon Highway being closed for 24 hours on Friday and Saturday each time.
The Yehudit bridge project itself started a decade ago. The planners' main idea was to reinforce the connection between eastern and southern Tel Aviv and the city center. Construction of the bridge is designed to encourage pedestrians and bicycle riders. Residents of Ramat Gan and Givatayim will be able to reach the Tel Aviv city center without vehicles, thereby reducing the number of cars on the road in the Tel Aviv area.
The Ministry of Transport said in response, "In contrast to the announcement published by the Tel Aviv municipality, the High Court of Justice accepted the Ministry of Transport's position on construction of the Yehudit bridge and the principles established by Minister of Transport and Intelligence Yisrael Katz were fully preserved: a six month postponement of the work, elimination of the plan for a separate roadblock for building the bridge, and carrying out the work for construction of the Yehudit bridge on the dates of electrification work on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv railway line.
"The six-month postponement of construction of the Yehudit bridge was designed to enable Israel Railways to complete its preparation for electrification of the Jerusalem line. Cancelation of the plan for a separate blocking of the Ayalon Highway was planned to take place for six weeks either during the week or on weekends. Work on electrification of the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv line will be given preference over work on building the Yehudit bridge.
"As decided by the minister of transport, work on building the Yehudit bridge will take place simultaneously with electrification work on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv railway line, not separately, in accordance with Israel Railways' work rules."
In response to the decision to carry out work on the Yehudit bridge on the Sabbath, Knesset Finance Committee chairperson MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) said, "We will consider a law to prevent such work in the future on Sabbaths and Jewish holidays."
Gafni spoke with Yisrael Katz, who tried to prevent the work, and told him that the Sabbath was not given to the Jewish people in order to desecrate it and do renovation work on it.
"In any case, we will consider a law to prevent such work in the future on Sabbaths and Jewish holidays," Gafni added.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 23, 2019
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