 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כביש 20 | ||||
| Ayalon Highway Hebrew:נתיבי איילון,romanized: Netivei Ayalon | ||||
 | ||||
 Arlozorov Interchange | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Length | 29 km (18 mi) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end | Rishon LeZion (Holot Interchange) | |||
| Major intersections |
| |||
| North end | Ga'ash | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | Israel | |||
| Major cities | Holon,Herzliya,Bat Yam,Tel Aviv,Givatayim,Ramat Gan | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
Highway 20, more commonly known as theAyalon Highway,[1] or simplyAyalon (Hebrew:נתיבי איילון, pronounced:Netivei Ayalon, lit. "Ayalon lanes"), is a major inter cityfreeway inGush Dan,Israel. The road runs along the eastern border of centralTel Aviv from north to south and connects all of the major highways leading to the city—such asHighway 4 fromAshdod and theSouthern regions,Highway 2 fromHaifa and theNorthern regions,Highway 5 from the East, andHighway 1 fromJerusalem and theSoutheast. The Ayalon Highway is heavily used; on an average day, almost 600,000 vehicles enter the freeway.[2] It consists of a multi-lane highway with a multi-trackrailway located between the opposite travel lanes. Some of the highway's route is along theAyalon River, hence its name. It is made of primarily asphalt.
Before the construction of the Ayalon Highway, all the major inter-city highways leading toTel Aviv terminated in the outskirts of the city. This created major traffic congestion at the entry and exit points and made driving through the city difficult. Moreover, before the highway, Tel Aviv had two separate railway stations, one in the north and one in the south, which were not connected. Thus, passengers who wanted to travel to the South of the country could only do so from thesouthern station and those who wanted to travel to the North could only do so from thenorthern (Central) station. Even worse, trains from the northern part of the country could not travel to the southern part of the country without bypassing Tel Aviv from the east, making train travel in Israel challenging. Finally, there was the problem of the Ayalon River, which went through parts of Tel Aviv and would sometimes cause flooding.
To solve these problems, as early as the 1950s, ideas were raised regarding using the route of the river as a transportation corridor, but it wasn't until the mid-1960s that the government began planning. In the 1970s a government-owned company,Ayalon Highways Ltd., was set up to construct the highway. The first phase included the construction of a concrete channel for the Ayalon River to alleviate the flooding problem. In 1982, the first section of the road opened, and, in 1991, the final section of the central part of the road was completed. This section connects Highway 1 in the south with Highway 5 and Highway 2 in the north through the very center of the Gush Dan metropolitan area. The Ayalon Railway section of theCoastal Railway and four stations were built in the center of the highway, which provided for the long-sought connection of Israel's railway network through Tel Aviv.
In the early 1990s, the construction of a southern section of the highway had started. This section goes fromTel Aviv HaHagana railway station through the southern Tel Aviv suburbs ofHolon,Bat Yam andRishon LeZion and connects to Highway 4 north ofYavne. After the highway splits with the Ayalon River at Highway 1, it goes on the route of a road called Heyl HaShiryon Road (דרך חיל השריון, "The Armored Corps Road"), then on the route ofYigael Yadin Road until Wolfson Interchange, where it goes on the route ofYigal Allon Road (דרך יגאל אלון).
Previously, the northern terminus of the road was inHerzliya, but in January 2019 it was extended further north to near thekibbutz ofShefayim, where it has another connection to Highway 2 built as part of theRoute 531 construction project.
| This sectioncontainspromotional content. Please helpimprove it by removingpromotional language and inappropriateexternal links, and by adding encyclopedic text written from aneutral point of view.(July 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The road and railway had a major impact on the Tel Aviv region. While quite congested at times it nevertheless alleviated traveling to and through Tel Aviv. Considerable real estate development of offices, shopping, and housing occurred along the route, so much so, that Tel Aviv'sCentral Business District lost much of its importance as many businesses relocated to near the road.Israel Railways saw huge increases in passenger numbers now that north/south trains could travel through Tel Aviv instead of around it.
The southern part of the highway (i.e., the section passing through the Holon, Bat Yam and Rishon LeZion suburbs) was completed in 2012, including a second overpass in theHolon interchange and dual track railroad and six stations in the median of the highway (as part of a project which extended theCoastal Railway to Ashdod). An east-west branch "Ayalon East", from Highway 4 to theTel Aviv University railway station along the path of theYarkon River has been planned, but is still not approved.[3]
The central section of the road is built along the banks of the Ayalon River. However, Israel Railways is in desperate need of adding a fourth railroad track in that area and no space exists to do so but "on top" of the river itself. Over the decades several suggestions have been made to solve this problem, ranging from diverting the entire river throughJaffa to building an elevated highway, to creating a man-made lake for capturing flooding overflow south of the city and burying the river in a large diameter pipe and constructing the railway on top of it. In 2018 a plan was finally approved to undertake a multi-billion Shekel project to add the fourth track although construction is not expected to commence until the early 2020s decade.[4]
Under construction as of 2020 areHOV lanes extending nearly the entire length of the Highway, together with largepark & ride facilities located in the approaches to the Gush Dan region. These parking facilities will be served by free express public shuttle buses which will ferry passengers from the parking lots to various locations inside the Gush Dan metropolitan area via the new HOV lanes.[5]
The long-term projection is for Route 20 to run as far north asHadera. However, this has garnered very strong opposition from environmental groups, since the road would have to cross anature preserve and other sensitive environmental areas. These groups suggest wideningHighway 2 (the so-called "Coastal Highway"), an existing freeway north of Tel Aviv which roughly parallels (several kilometres to the west) Route 20's future route, instead of extending Route 20 northwards.
List of interchanges in order from the southernmost atGan Sorek to the northernmost atGa'ash:
| District[6] | Location[7] | km | mi | Name | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central | Gan Sorek | 0 | 0.0 | מחלף חולות (Holot Interchange) |   Highway 4 | |
| Rishon LeZion | 1 | 0.62 | מחלף מבוא איילון (Mevo Ayalon Interchange) |  Route 431 | ||
| 3.5 | 2.2 | מחלף משה דיין (Moshe Dayan Interchange) |  Route 441 | Named afterMoshe Dayan | ||
| Tel Aviv | Bat Yam Holon | 5 | 3.1 | מחלף קוממיות (Komemiyut Interchange) | HaKomemiyut Street | |
| 6.5 | 4.0 | מחלף יוספטל (Yoseftal Interchange) | Yoseftal Blvd. | Named afterGiora Yoseftal | ||
| 7.5 | 4.7 | מחלף דב הוז (Dov Hoz Interchange) | Dov Hoz Blvd. | Named afterDov Hoz | ||
| Holon Tel Aviv | 9 | 5.6 | מחלף וולפסון (Wolfson Interchange) | Heinrich Heine Street | Named after nearbyWolfson Medical Center | |
| Holon | 12 | 7.5 | מחלף חולון (Holon Interchange) |  Highway 44 | ||
| HaTikva | 13 | 8.1 | מחלף חיל השריון (Heil HaShiryon Interchange) |   Highway 2 | ||
| 13.2 | 8.2 | מחלף קיבוץ גלויות (Kibbutz Galuyot Interchange) | ||||
| 14 | 8.7 | מחלף לה גוורדייה (LaGuardia Interchange) | Laguardia Street | Named afterFiorello LaGuardia | ||
| Nahalat Yitzhak | 16 | 9.9 | מחלף השלום (Peace Interchange) | HaShalom Road | ||
| 17 | 11 | מחלף ארלוזורוב (Arlozorov Interchange) |  Route 481Arlozorov Street | Named afterArlozorov | ||
| Bavli | 17.5 | 10.9 | מחלף ההלכה (HaHalakha Interchange) | HaRav Shlomo Goren Street | ||
| Shikun Lamed | 19 | 12 | מחלף רוקח (Rokach Interchange) | Rokach Blvd. | Named afterIsrael Rokach | |
| Afeka | 21 | 13 | מחלף קק"ל (KKL Interchange) | Keren Kayemet LeYisrael Blvd. | ||
| Ramat HaSharon | 23 | 14 | מחלף גלילות מזרח (East Glilot Interchange) |   Highway 5Highway 2 | Named after the location of formerJewish refugee camp Glilot | |
| Herzliya | 25.5 | 15.8 | מחלף שבעת הכוכבים (The Seven Stars Interchange) |  Route 541 | ||
| Kfar Shmaryahu | 29 | 18 | מחלף המעפילים (HaMa'apailim Interchange) | Menachem Begin Blvd. | ||
| Central | Rishpon | 30.6 | 19.0 | מחלף שמריהו מזרח (East Shmaryahu Interchange) |  Route 531 | |
| Ga'ash | 34.6 | 21.5 | מחלף רשפון – געש (Rishpon – Ga'ash Interchange) | Highway 2 | ||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | ||||||
Railway stations are located nearby the following interchanges (with station name in parentheses, if differs from interchange name): Shiv'at HaKochavim (Herzliyya), Rokach (University), Arlozorov (Tel Aviv Central), HaShalom, Kibbutz Galuyot (HaHagana), Holon, Wolfson, Yoseftal, Komemiyut, Moshe Dayan.
32°02′15″N34°45′52″E / 32.03750°N 34.76444°E /32.03750; 34.76444
