Route 16. The question of why it was built in advance without cellular reception (Photo: Flash 90, Olivia Fitoussi, Flash 90)
Good news for tens of thousands of users every day at the new entrance to Jerusalem: after a month of work, the installation of the cellular network in the tunnels on the road was completed. At the same time, the agreement signed between Netivei Israel and the cellular companies, with the encouragement of the Ministry of Communications, for the implementation of the project set a schedule of three months.
The new road, which was opened to traffic last year at an investment of NIS 4.3 billion, was built without cellular antennas in its four tunnels, two in each direction of travel, and with a cumulative length of <> kilometers in each direction. The result: calls would disconnect upon entering the tunnel, navigation apps such as Waze lost the ability to operate and update drivers of lane changes, and drivers lost the ability to call police, MDA or rescue in the event of an accident or technical malfunction.
Even before the opening, the Jerusalem Police demanded that it be delayed until the issue was resolved, but the Transportation Ministry decided to open the road and deal with the problem later. Only in April did NTI and the cellular companies sign an agreement to install the missing antennas in the tunnels, at a cost of several hundred thousand shekels.
The next stage: completion of the Park and Ride parking lot at the Bait interchange, transferring drivers to public transportation (Photo: Simulation: Transportation Master Plan)
Highway 16 was built by Shapir Pizzerotti, with Shapir also operating and maintaining it for 25 years. The road created a new entrance to the capital from Highway 1 from the Motza area, to Givat Shaul and Bait Street in Jerusalem, near the Givat Mordechai interchange on Menachem Begin Boulevard, and dramatically improved traffic to the south Jerusalem area and Mevaseret Zion's connection to the city, despite morning and afternoon congestion.
Engineer Yair Greenold, Director of the PPP Projects Department at Netivei Israel: "Thanks to the hard work of all those involved, we managed within a short time to finish the equally important and significant part, cellular coverage along all the tunnels on Highway 16, so that all road users can continue their traffic continuity without disconnection or communication failures."
Do you also have tunnels on your roads without cellular reception? Tell us in the comments.
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