News And Events

“Em HaMoshavot” Bridge Opening Ceremony

A dramatic decrease of the number of vehicles moving on Zabutinsky street and inside Pardes Katz neighborhood and Kiryat Herzog, towards the mall area and neighborhoods in northern Tel Aviv, while providing a direct and effective transportation connection to those coming from “Geha” highway and Petach Tikva to the new commercial and business center in northern Bnei Brak, will all be a result of today’s launch and opening ceremony of the new “Em HaMoshavot” bridge and the road opening to the public.

About ten years ago “Em HaMoshavot” road was paved, connecting between Bnei Brak city and Petach Tikva in order to reduce traffic on Zabutinsky Street, which today is packed with thousands of vehicles, but since the road was paved it hasn’t been used at all, since there was a need to build a bridge over “Geha” highway and access routes connecting between the main road and the industrial area of Petach Tikva and “Em HaMoshavot” Street in Bnei Brak. Because of budget problems the construction of the bridge was stopped shortly after.

In order to promote the extremely necessary project for the city of Bnei Brak, a meeting was held between Rabbi Yaakov Asher, the mayor, with Mr. Israel Katz, Minister of Transportation during his visit to city hall. Following that a meeting with Mr. Yitzhak Zuchman, senior vice president of Infrastructure Development in the Ministry of Transportation, where was agreed that the Ministry will accept the mayor’s request and finance the construction of the bridge. The total cost of construction, which ended these past days, was 290 million NIS, and includes 2.3 km of road, about 240 meter wide, including lighting, infrastructure and stop lights.
The festive ceremony of the bridge launching was opened by Eli Nakar, active CEO of “Ayalon Roads” company, project executioner, who mentioned that this is a new width axis in Tel Aviv metropolis which will cause a decrease of traffic and is a central route to the developing business world in the area and in Bnei Brak city.

Professor Israel (Izzi) Burovich, chairman of “Ayalon Roads” board emphasized that transportation infrastructure is an economic growth engine, as it is a mean of connecting two areas, which so far the transportation connection between them included heavy traffic. He praised the city hall of Bnei Brak, headed by Rabbi Yaakov Asher who works vigorously for the development of the city, who took care of clearing the path for the road and the bridge, while maintaining the schedule and dealine.

Rabbi Yaakov Asher, Mayor of Bnei Brak, emphasized the importance and necessity of the bridge both as mayor and as part of the metropolis in need of a bridge of this kind, connecting between areas, which till now so lacked the project and drivers had to wait a very long time in traffic and overloaded roads. The mayor praised the cooperation with Mr. Israel Katz, Minister of Transportation and the administration of “Ayalon Roads” company and the Israeli National Road Company, and stressed that he is sure the ministry will promote the future bridge in Herling Street near the commercial and business center in Bnei Brak, which will provide solutions to all city halls and centers in Gush Dan area. Today, added Rabbi Yaakov Asher, Bnei Brak is not beyond Tel Aviv anymore, as before, but a developing industrial and business center for large economic companies in Israel.
Mr. Yitzhak Ohayun, Mayor of Petach Tikva, praised the opening of the bridge as another connecting element in the area and mentioned the part that Bnei Brak city hall took in promoting the project.
Mr. Israel Katz, Minister of Transportation, described the new project as an advancing mean for wider business activity, which will in the future combine the “Light Train”, and which some of its stations will be located around the city of Bnei Brak. He added, that combining the two transportation projects is crucial for connecting southern and northern Israel, in addition to the railway network, including the future train line from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which will only take 25 minutes.