2004 - Transportation infrastructure investment down 14%

According to a report published by the Bank of Israel research department, transportation infrastructure investment in 2004 fell by 14%. On the other hand, the report emphasized that railway investment was up, with a 26% rise in direct investment.
 
The report said, however, that the new transportation projects classified by the government as "large-scale transportation infrastructure projects", which had recently been approved should dramatically change the situation i.e. lateral Road No. 431, the Haifa Airport, light railways in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the Carmel Tunnels.
 
The report, published last week, indicates that Israel’s roads system is crowded. Israel, according to the report, is in the ninth place among the eleven countries surveyed. The use of public buses services is constantly falling, while the use of private vehicles as well as the railway system is rising.
 
The report notes that according to Israel Railways’ development plan, every town with more than 50,000 residents will be connected to the railway network. Israel Railways projects 23 million passengers in 2004, and 54.2 million in 2008, at the end of the five-year plan. As of 2004, Israel’s railway system was still underdeveloped. In kilometers of railway track per area, Israel has less than half of the European average, and the gap in passenger kilometers per resident is even wider.