Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, speaking at the dedication of a new major east-west highway on Tuesday, said, “We will change the face of the nation.”
The new road is known as Highway 431, a 23-kilometer-long (14-mile) highway leading from Rishon LeTzion in the west to Modiin in the east. It has 11 intersections, including one through Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Route1 and the north-south Road 6, Israel’s only toll road. It has three lanes in each direction, and planned railway line is planned in the middle.
“We want to connect the entire country with a network of roads,” Netanyahu said, “from Kiryat Shmona in the north to the Negev, and of course with trains. This is going to change the country and will be a giant transportation revolution.
“We have a very small country,” he said, “one of the smallest in terms of physical size. We have a giant nation, but a small country. It can’t be that to get from east to west it will take hours; soon it will take minutes.”
Netanyahu listed the three elements of his plan: “Roads and trains, available land, and a revolution in planning. We’re doing it quietly, but it’s being legislated right now, and soon everyone will see it. It will be equivalent to the revolution we made when we released the restrictions on foreign currency.
“This revolution will have amazing ramifications in many areas,” Netanyahu said: “For economic growth, for a better social division, for the linking of the periphery with the center of the country, for fewer traffic jams and more traffic safety.”
In a related item, it was announced that 30 million shekels is being allocated to upgrade industrial zones in the Galilee, Golan and the Negev. The money will come from the Ministries of Industry and Trade and Galilee and Negev Development, in fulfillment of a three-month-old government decision. The goal is to rehabilitate the zones and attract new businesses.