News for Beit Shemesh residents • City's deathly road upgraded

The tender to upgrade Highway 38 in the section between Sha'ar Hagai and Beit Shemesh, was published immediately after Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu acceded an inquiry by the Minister of Transport, National Infrastructure and Road Safety, Israel Katz, to instruct the Ministry of Finance to immediately approve the publication of a tender.

The Jerusalem District Committee recently approved a plan to expand the road section between Sha'ar Hagai and Nachem in the Beit Shemesh area and turning it into a two-lane road with two routes. The program includes building an interchange at the Shimshon Junction.

About a month ago, Minister Katz also instructed the National Roads Company, to publish the tender to upgrade Highway 38 immediately after Yom Kippur, but the Ministry of Finance decided to postpone the implementation of the project due to budget cuts.

Minister Katz turned to the deputy legal adviser of the government, Avi Licht, and sought to instruct the Treasury to immediately fund transportation infrastructure projects delayed by the Ministry of Finance, including the upgrading of Highway 38.

In his letter to the Attorney, Minister Katz notes that upgrading Highway 38 was delayed by the Ministry of Finance, although the approved framework and budgeted work plan was formulated following a government decision. "The treasury's conduct is a violation of the government's decision and a blunt disregard for the proper administration which obliges all ministries," Katz wrote.

Beit Shemesh Mayor Moshe Abutbul thanked the Minister of Transport on behalf of the residents of Beit Shemesh, for placing the plight of the residents of Beit Shemesh at the center , for despite the fact that Beit Shemesh has become a metropolis, the roads of access to it have remained as before.

"The struggle of the residents of Beit Shemesh and the Yehuda district is not only a struggle for quality of life but mainly a battle of saving lives," the mayor of Beit Shemesh wanted to emphasize, citing the dozens of dead and wounded, bloody sacrifices, which Highway 38 has caused in the last decade, which should be a red warning sign for all decision makers in the country.

The estimated cost of upgrading the road is 800 million shekels, and its renovation is expected to be completed within three years. The contractor who wins the tender will both prepare the planning and the actual road upgrade, in order to significantly reduce the implementation period of the project.

The project will be built in five central barriers: in Burma, Khan Sha'ar Hagai, Messilat Zion, Shimshon interchange and Nacham. At Messilat Zion an ecological crossing will be built which will be used by animals and at the entrance to Beit Shemesh a level separation will be made over the railway line.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!