Road 16

The main entrance to Jerusalem, Israel’s most populated city, is plagued by traffic congestion. Highway 16 offers an alternative entrance to the city to ease congestion.

The western entrance to Jerusalem is beyond its capacity and urgent solutions are needed to ease traffic congestion. Highway 16 will be another entrance to this part of the city, connecting to Highway 1 through a new interchange, the Motza Interchange. The road will continue eastward and pass over Nahal Sorek using a long bridging system. From there, it will continue through a tunnel under the Jerusalem Forest and Har Nof.

In the Jerusalem Forest area, a new interchange will be constructed allowing drivers to connect to the road leading up to Givat Shaul and Har Nof. Further along, the road will pass through another tunnel, cross under Yefe Nof and Herzl Boulevard, and connect to Bate Street at a new interchange and to Begin Road at the Givat Mordechai Interchange.

This road will resolve accessibility problems to Givat Shaul, Kiryat HaLeom, Shaare Zedek Hospital and southern Jerusalem, and presents a special integration of nature and progress.

Challenges include coming up with creative alternatives to minimize landscape and environmental damage, and creating long and complex tunnels through both rock and marl. The Motza Interchange passes through a very sensitive antiquity area and we need to consider vast areas with antiquities and excavations, and relocate high-voltage Israel Electric Corporation
cables.