Tel Aviv's skyline
Tel Aviv's skylineReuters

Traffic in Tel Aviv? Work ends at the same hour in the Government Complex, the Defense Ministry, and the Azrieli Towers? No problem. The streets in the area, as of today, are going underground, and residents and patrons of the Sarona neighborhood and its beautifully landscaped commercial district will be able to travel and walk traffic jam-free.

The Israel Lands Authority and the City of Tel Aviv-Jaffa officially opened the country's first underground "street," under what used to be the Templar neighborhood. The Templars were German Christians who settled in the Holy Land in the 1800's, who later engaged in Nazi activities leading to their expulsion by the British. The British later handed the neighborhood over to Israel when the British Mandate ended – and the area became what is now known as the Kiryah: the headquarters of Israel's defense and military offices.

The underground complex looks like a normal city street, with traffic lights, circles, and turns. At present it only has two entrance/exists, along Kaplan St., but no fewer than five additional entrances are planned.

Bentzy Lieberman, the former Yesha Council Chairman who now heads the Israel Lands Authority, said at today's dedication ceremony, "The strategic cooperation with the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality changes the real estate map in areas of high demand… Only cooperation between local government and national government can assure speedy development of Israel's cities for the benefit of the residents."

The section that opened today, over a mile long (1.5 kilometers), leads to the large parking area of the Kiryah, and will lead in the future to ten additional such areas with 10,000 parking spaces. The street is 12-15 meters wide.

The area above the new street is heavily built-up: Two groups of buildings of 20-30 stories each, with 648 apartments, an 800-room hotel, and – most notably – some 37 buildings from the Templar period that have been designated landmarks. They cannot be torn down – but they have been moved in the past: Nine years ago, five houses were relocated, at a cost of $10 million, some 20 meters to the north, to make way for a widening of Kaplan St.