Next month work will begin on the Tel Aviv light rail Green Line and from June 2021 Rabin Square will become a construction site. NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd. which is supervising the work, says that 40% of Rabin Square will be used for storing construction and engineering equipment while the underground station beneath the square is being built.
There will be two entrances to the underground station. The first entrance will be in the west near the ecological pool and the second in the east at the corner of Ibn Gbriol and David Hamelekh Streets. Various sections of Ibn Gbriol Street will be narrowed during the engineering works.
The Green Line will link Rishon Lezion and Holon in the south via Tel Aviv with Herzliya in the north. Engineering consultants Levy and Shtark Zilberstein in cooperation with Mansfeld Kehat Architects are responsible for the statutory planning although the construction company for the actual underground station has yet to be chosen through a PPP tender. The cost of building the station will be NIS 600 million.
From past experience with the Red Line, it is fair to estimate that the work will take about five years. Work on the Ofra Haza station, for example, at the corner of Allenby and Yehuda Halevy streets began in 2015 and ended last month. Construction on Carlebach Station began in 2016 and is yet to be completed.
The Tel Aviv - Yafo Municipality told "Globes" that as part of the coordination with NTA and the contractor, it has been agreed that only half of Rabin Square will be used for construction with the northern end beneath the municipal building kept open for public use while the construction work is undertaken.
The Municipality said, "The Municipality is currently preparing to plan development during the work and after the Green Line begins operating. The temporary landscape of the square will be adapted as a public space to the needs of residents and the surroundings during the period of the work. In addition, a substantial number of the existing trees will be preserved as well as pedestrian passages between the streets around the square."
Work at Rabin Square will not only affect passersby and residents of the surrounding neighborhood but also the many organizations that hold rallies, demonstrations and events in the city's main large square ranging from political protests, book week, and of course the annual memorial assembly for Yitzhak Rabin who was assassinated in the square in 1995.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 13, 2020
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