As the Huwara bypass highway is being completed, work began today on the first lane of the Funduq bypass highway.
A temporary lane will be built close to the planned route for the finished highway, and is intended to allow the Israel Roads corporation to create a solution for travel along the overloaded Route 55 that goes through Funduq in matter of months.
Planning work continues in the Ministries of Finance and Transportation with the leadership of Ministers Smotrich and Regev to allow a permanent bypass near the temporary road.
The order to begin the new bypass was issued at the request of Samaria governor Yossi Dagan, in coordination with Transportation Minister Miri Regev and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Paving the temporary road is being done as part of the lessons learned from the murder of the Yaniv brothers in Huwara. On the night of the murder, Dagan met with General Yehuda Fox, who agreed to the governor's request and put his full backing behind the creation of the new road.
Governor Dagan visited the work site in person and stated “In good time, we have begun a new bypass around Funduq and Route 55 in the center of Samaria. This is a main road that carries hundreds of thousands of travellers weekly. We have worked on this road for years, along with the Huwara bypass highway, and a series of others around Luban e-Sharkiya, Al Aroub, and now Funduq.”
“Immediately following the murder of the Yaniv brothers, I met with General Fox and he joined the cause, and added his full support to secure a special order for creating a temporary road to prevent security threats here in the traffic jams of Funduq. I thank the general for that. Paving this road was also made possible by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who invested all her efforts in bringing the Israel Roads company into the project, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.”
“Everyone dedicated themselves to the project and this morning the work began. With all the other hardships and challenges, against all the evil and opposition of the war, we are adding more construction to the land. I think the leaders of the towns, the head of the Civil Administration, the Ephraim Brigade and their commander, the heads of local authorities in the area, and Rafi Avital, transportation manager of Samaria, who helped in the process.”
“Our answer to criminal Nazi terror, and the enemies of Israel, is building in the land. We will increase security here, on this road as well, and we will strengthen settlement and God willing bring 1 million residents to Samaria.”
“This is part of the victory of Israel over our barbaric enemies. The temporary road is now beginning. It will carry on for a few weeks, and following that there will be additional work with the Israel Roads corporation and Transportation Minister Miri Regev, as well as all other authorities, to advance building a permanent bypass. This is a great day for settlement, and with all the difficulty, still the light will overcome the darkness.”