At the end of 13 months of mining work, the new tunnel on Route 60 (Tunnels Road) was breached, on its way to becoming a wider and safer road.
Mining of the new tunnel, the first of its kind in the country and one of the few to be built in the world, was accompanied by engineering challenges.
The road is of national importance as an eastern entrance to Jerusalem - especially as an entrance from Gush Etzion to the capital.
The road opens and doubles the amount of traffic that will flow on it from one lane in each direction to two lanes in each direction.
The large tunnel, located in the southern part of the road, has been a kind of traffic jam for years.
Because it is a single tunnel, if God forbid an accident or any other event occurs inside it - this axis is immediately paralyzed.
From May 2020, the Oron Holdings and Investments Group is working on doubling the tunnel road, and paving another tunnel, which will allow safer and more fluid traffic on the Gilo axis - Husan Junction.
Recently, a significant step was taken in the project with the breaking of the new tunnel in the project and these days the mining and excavation work at the site is being completed.
As part of the work on the project to double the tunnel road, the work teams in the field were required to cut a new tunnel, c. 900 m long, only 3.4 m from the existing and active tunnel.
This is the first project of its kind in Israel, and probably one of the few in the world, in order to meet the challenge in the best way, the Oron Group decided to integrate the Spanish company OSSA, which has experience in carrying out such projects, as a subcontractor in the project.
As mentioned, these days the teams working in the field broke through the new tunnel after 400 days of mining, thus reaching the final stages of tunnel mining.
Along with the completion of mining, the Oron Group is preparing for the next phase, which includes the final casting of the tunnel, using a unique steel mold, made especially for the project in Italy, and brought in from there weighing 160 tons.
"Once a parallel, wide tunnel is opened, which also includes a public transportation lane, traffic volumes will be able to increase, and traffic safety and security risks will be significantly reduced," says Oz Shalev, project manager for the Oron Holdings and Investments Group.
"The excavation of the tunnel was carried out at pre-determined stages, and in accordance with the planned pace of progress. "Burying systems in concrete and casting the final support with the unique mold brought from Italy," says the director of the tunnel project on behalf of the Oron Holdings and Investments Group.
The transfer of traffic to the new tunnel will take place in about a year, and then the crews working in the field will be able to enter the existing tunnel, perform the restoration of the existing support, seal and make final cast concrete support as they are now starting to do in the new tunnel.
Only after all the works in the existing tunnel have been completed will it be possible to open the two tunnels to traffic.
Road 60, known as the Tunnels Road, connects Jerusalem and Gush Etzion.
It is the main axis that exits the capital and enters it from this area, giving access to Beit Jala, and the surrounding localities.
Upgrading and renewing the road is a complex project, divided into two different sections.
A northern section - extending from the Rosemary Interchange in Jerusalem to the southern end of the Gilo Bridge, and a southern section - beginning at the Gilo Bridge and ending at the Husan Junction.
The tunnel doubling project in the southern section, consists mostly of tunnel work, and alongside them the Oron Group will also carry out 3.5 km of road, which will widen it both east and west, as well as rearranging the Husan junction, as a large, traffic light junction. The junction, known as the 'Crossing to Khader', will be widened following the widening of the road above it.
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