Israel

The Israeli government agency Cross Israel Highway Limited (CIH) is releasing contract documents soon for a concession to build the first segment of Israel’s major north-south Highway 6 (H6) as a toll road. Four groups are shortlisted to tender for the construction and operation of the central and most heavily trafficked segment which will run for about 90km (56ml) parallel with the Mediterranean coast and generally about 15km inland. In the region of Tel Aviv H6 will skirt the eastern edge of Lod airport — the country’s major one. One short 5km stretch here will carry H1 Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem traffic but in the future it is envisaged the H1 will be built here as a separate highway parallel to the H6.

All of the H6 is located within the pre-1967 borders of Israel, so unlike some other road projects, its construction does not provoke criticism as complicating a political settlement with the Palestinians. North of the Tel-Aviv area the new highway will run just a hundred meters or so from the border of the West Bank, the predominantly Arab area where some degree of sovereignty seems certain to pass to a Palestinian authority.

For the moment its northern end will terminate south of Israel’s third city Haifa. Eventually the plan is to extend the toll road north in two branches — one due north to the Lebanon border not far from the Mediterranean coast, another northeast to the Galilee area. South of Tel-Aviv in a later stage the toll road will go to Be’er Sheva. The extensions will make H6 a total of 300km. CIH is currently getting permits to firm up the alignment of second stage extensions totalling 48km immediately north and south of the first 90km stage. No decision has been made yet as to whether the extensions will be toll projects.

Environmental groups last year lost a major legal challenge to the project, but there have been charges by highway opponents that the project will be a New Jersey Turnpike giant of 12 or 14 lanes with rampant commercial development at closely spaced interchanges. A CIH official told us the highway is likely to be a maximum 8 lanes and that in the 90km there will be some 8 to 10 interchanges. The agency is not encouraging concessionaires to expect to benefit from major land use conversion along the route.

The Israeli government has been building a series of east-west highways and upgrading arterial roads somewhat unevenly with interchanges at points of greatest congestion and some sections to full expressway standard, but most of lesser design. The major north-south road (H2) until now is close to the coast passing through local towns. An earlier eastern bypass of the Tel-Aviv area (H4) is now engulfed in urban development on both sides and is heavily overcrowded. Other north-south roads are mostly winding 2-lane roads.

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The new Highway 6 is — confusingly to an American — called by the Israeli government the Cross Israel Highway... so-named we speculate by an Arab engineer praying to the east! Anyway the H6 will serve as a kind of national transport spine or linear distributor with most of the country’s short east west highways crossing it. To an American who thinks north-south, praying to Santa Claus of course, those east-west stubs are the real cross-Israel highways!

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The government has begun land acquisition for the H6 and will hand over fully acquired right-of-way to the concessionaire. The land is mainly irrigated farmland plus a bit of uncultivated rocky, scrubby country. It lies in the transition between the coastal plain and the hills of Judea and Samaria eastward. Work has already begun on two major H6 interchanges which the government is building — for H5 (Tel Aviv to Ariel) and for H1 (Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem).

Toll collection is expected to be fully electronic, but details of toll rates and the regulatory regime are yet to be worked out.

A study published in support of the project notes that H-6 will have the effect of encouraging development away from the coast and that it will help improve economic relations and mobility between Israel proper and the autonomous Palestinian regions. Eventually if real peace is established with Israel’s neighbors H6 would become the major route between Lebanon and Syria to the north and Egypt to the southwest. Like most roads it will also be valuable in mobilizing the Israel army in time of war. The highway itself is being designed for 120km/hr speeds, with a parallel railway reservation and space for some road widening.

Traffic projections for the H6 suggest that without tolls, typical stretches could carry 120,000 veh/day by the year 2010. Tolls often suppress or divert demand 30% which would still leave 80,000 veh/day, a very healthy level for a 4-lane road (with any growth envisaged those numbers usually justify 6-lanes.)

The four short-listed tenderers are groups led by:

•Transroute International (France)

• Bouygues (France)

• Canadian Highways Investment Corp

• Dragados (Spain)

Following release of contract documents shortly the four groups will have 6 months to file their proposals, so Cross Israel Highways should select the concessionaire before the middle of 1997. It wants construction to begin before the end of 1997 for completion of the 90km first segment by 2001 or 2002.

Background: Israel’s population is now 5.6 million (including 1.2m Palestinians), similar to Hong Kong, the U.S. state of Massachusetts, and Denmark. A high rate of immigration in the past decade saw the population grow by nearly 30%, though the rate is now slowing. Vehicle numbers have been growing 5 to 6% a year and now total 1.2m, about half the typical west European ratio of 400 to 500 veh/thousand people and less than a third of the North American/Australian ratio of vehicles/population. The motor vehicle population is expected to increase to about 2m by 2006, at which time it would be close to the present European vehicle/pop. ratio.

Israel has virtually no rail transit but makes great use of buses for commuting and of jitneys. The country has one of the largest bus/jitney/cab mode shares in the world. Urban development tends to be at lower density than the typical walk-up apartments as the role of government planners is reduced, so trip lengths and car usage are growing, but official policies hope to avoid the need for intraurban expressways of major width.

There are already bus/HOV lanes in use but as in the U.S. these are difficult to manage and Israeli traffic planners are closely following U.S. experiments in ‘express lane’ HOV-buy-ins such as SR-91EL, I-15 San Diego and the East Valley of Phoenix AZ. Israel’s next toll projects might well involve such “HOT” lanes.

Israel's other major active toll project is the Carmel Tunnels in Haifa: See TR#7, Sept 96 p6. (Contact Ken Kleinerman Cross Israel Highways tel 972 3 696 1192 or email cih@netvision.net.il)