Netivei Israel, Israel's National Roads Authority, has completed the digging of the first tunnel on the new Jerusalem to Tel Aviv road.
The tunnel will eliminate the steep climb from Jerusalem to the Kastel area, and will be an important element in significantly cutting down driving time between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Each of the two tunnels along this segment will be 800 meters long, 15 meters wide, and 40 meters underground, with emergency passages between them. They will each have three traffic lanes, and state-of-the-art safety and traffic control systems. The tunnels are being dug using a "drill and explode" technique, enabling progress of between four and six meters a day.
