Minister Regev: “Paving the Afula Bypass will relieve the city of traffic jams, improve safety, and provide residents with a new, safe, and accessible lifeline.”
The Ministry of Transportation and Road Safety and the Ministry of Finance have approved a significant budget addition of 10 million shekels for 2025 for the Eastern Afula Bypass project. With the approval of the additional budget, the total government participation in the project, carried out through Netivei Israel, stands at approximately 351 million shekels.
The approved budget is intended for the completion of the project’s planning, which includes the traffic light at the junction – an essential engineering and safety measure that will allow, among other things, a regulated exit from the neighborhood towards the center of the country.
The Eastern Afula Bypass is a large-scale national infrastructure project, representing a crucial step towards removing transportation “bottlenecks” that limit the development of the entire region. The initiative aims to create a strategic transportation artery that will enable controlled diversion of heavy traffic and intercity traffic flows from Afula’s residential and business center to a modern, high-engineering-standard route.
The bypass road is expected to bring immediate relief to traffic congestion, improve road safety, and strengthen the full connectivity between northern settlements and the national rail and road network.
Minister of Transportation and Road Safety, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Miri Regev: “We continue to renew and strengthen Israel’s infrastructure as part of the ‘Connecting Israel’ vision we have been leading in recent years. Paving the Afula Bypass is a strategic breakthrough that reflects responsible policy of developing advanced infrastructure throughout the country. This is a project that shortens distances, strengthens the periphery, and provides the residents of the valley with a strong, stable, and connected transportation system that will serve future generations.”
Director General of the Ministry of Transportation and Road Safety, Moshe Ben Zaken: “The budget approval is a vital component in the national effort to strengthen transportation continuity in the north. This is professional management that translates vision into precise execution on the ground, including the regulation of junctions and access to neighborhoods, with full cooperation from all parties to meet national goals. Israeli citizens and the residents of Afula deserve to enjoy strong and efficient infrastructure, and this is the commitment of the Ministry of Transportation under the leadership of Minister Regev.”
Mayor of Afula, Avi Elkabetz: “Thank you very much to Transportation Minister Miri Regev and Netivei Israel CEO Nissim Peretz for the cooperation with the Afula Municipality and the budget approval. For many years, Road 65 caused traffic congestion at the entrances and roads within the city. Since the opening of the new road and interchange about a year ago, city residents and visitors have felt the relief in congestion. The budget, now approved, for the establishment of a traffic-lighted junction connecting to the ‘Afula HaYeruka’ neighborhood will also ease the city’s residents’ exit towards Tel Aviv and the central region, and will effectively serve as an additional component in improving accessibility to and from the city.”