Route 417 (Israel–Palestine)

Route 417 shield}}
Route 417
כביש 417
Route information
Length16 km (9.9 mi)
Major junctions
West end
  • Junction at Weizmann Blvd
East end
  • Adumim Interchange
Location
CountryIsrael
Major cities
Highway system

Route 417 (Hebrew: כביש 417, "Kvish Arba'-Achat-Sheva'") is an intercity road in Israel and the West Bank that stretches from the west side of Jerusalem to Ma'ale Adumim and Highway 1 east to the Jordan Valley.

History

[edit]

Most of the road serves as a local thoroughfare within Jerusalem and East Jerusalem. The road has been non-contiguous since the construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier through Abu Dis in 2006.[1] Route 417 used to be the main route from the west to the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea, bypassing downtown Jerusalem. With the opening of Jerusalem Road 9 (Yitzhak Shamir Road and Yigal Yadin Interchange [he]) and the Ma'ale Adumim Road, the historic route lost that distinction. With the closure of the road in Abu Dis, the route no longer serves that option at all.

Route

[edit]

The route's name changes many times along the way. From west to east:

Yirmiyahu Street

[edit]

Named after the biblical prophet,[2] the route begins at Weizmann Boulevard at the base of the Strings Bridge, an area known historically as the western "Jerusalem Gate", the main entrance to the city from the west. It passes the beginning of Jaffa Road near the Jerusalem Central Bus Station and the headquarters of Magen David Adom. It then winds through the Romema neighborhood as a commercial and light-industrial four-lane divided boulevard.

Early morning traffic-free view of Bar-Ilan Street

Bar-Ilan Street

[edit]

Just past the Shikun Chabad neighborhood, the well-known Bar-Ilan St. named after Rabbi Meir Berlin, passes between the Haredi neighborhoods of Tel Arza, Mahanayim and Bukharim. Here the road serves as a major shopping street. In many sections, fencing exists on the median divider to prevent pedestrians from crossing between controlled intersections on this heavily congested section. Before 1955, this was called "The Ring Road", skirting around the northern edge of what was then the built-up area of central Jerusalem.[2]

Hativat HarEl Street

[edit]

Named after the famous Harel Brigade,[2] this 0.3 km section widens into a 6-lane divided boulevard between the Sanhedria and Shmuel HaNavi neighborhoods.

Levi Eshkol Boulevard

[edit]

This section, built in 1968, was named after Israel's third prime minister.[2] The route continues past the Ma'alot Dafna, Ramat Eshkol and Givat HaMivtar neighborhoods. Just short of Haim Bar-Lev Boulevard (Highway 60), also known as Jerusalem Road 1, a 0.2 km tunnel provides an alternate route bypassing the congested traffic-light controlled intersection which includes a crossing of the Jerusalem Light Rail tracks.

Hebrew University Boulevard

[edit]

This 0.6 km stretch passes Kiryat Menachem Begin, the Dan Jerusalem Hotel (formerly the Hyatt Regency) and the main entrance road to the Hebrew University's Har HaTsofim campus.

Wadi al-Joz Street

[edit]

While most traffic continues straight through the new Har HaTzofim tunnels bypassing East Jerusalem's built-up areas and connecting to Highway 1 to Ma'ale Adumim and the Dead Sea, the official Route 417 makes a right turn southward onto Wadi al-Joz St. Here, in the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood, named after the "Walnut Valley",[2] the street serves as a main commercial artery. This section of the road contains many auto-repair shops giving it the nickname among Hebrew speakers of 'Wadi Egzōz' (i.e., exhaust).

al-Maqdesi Street

[edit]

Continuing southward as a commercial street, this 0.4 km stretch, named after the famous 10th-century Arab geographer,[2] passes the Failey Center for the Arts and the Rockefeller Museum as it approaches the northeast corner of Jerusalem's Old City.

Jericho Road in the Kidron Valley,
traditional site of Gethsemane with
Church of All Nations (center) and
Church of Maria Magdalene (upper right)

Jericho Road

[edit]

Along the eastern edge of the Old City, the now named Jericho Road descends into the Kidron Valley, also known by its biblical name, the Valley of Josaphat.[3] The valley is the site of many tombs: the Tomb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Pillar of Absalom, the Tomb of Benei Hezir, the Tomb of Zechariah, the tomb of Josaphat and the tomb of Saint James.

The road then runs along the bottom of the Mount of Olives and continues through the Ras al-Amud, Ma'ale ha-Zeitim and Wadi Qadum neighborhoods as a commercial street.

At ash-Shiyah Street at the edge of Abu Dis, the Israeli West Bank barrier has been erected. Originally including a security checkpoint, the road was permanently closed in 2006. Past the barrier, the road continues as a commercial artery through Abu Dis, al-Eizariya and Jahalin.

As it passes Ma'ale Adumim, the route becomes a freeway, finally merging into Highway 1 to the Jordan Valley.

Junctions (west to east)

[edit]
km Location Name Type Meaning Road(s) Crossed
Jerusalem Municipality
Yirmiyahu Street
0 Romema Weizmann Blvd.
Strings Bridge
0.05 Romema Jaffa Road
0.1 Romema Ha Mem Gimel St.
0.2 Romema Aholiab St.,[4]
HaTvi St.
0.3 Romema HaRikma St.[5]
0.4 Romema HaRikma St.
0.5 Romema Tuval St.[6]
HaTchelet St.
0.6 Romema HaTchelet St.
0.7 Romema Argaman St.[7]
1 Romema Tuval St.
1.1 Romema Shamgar St.[8]
1.2 Romema ככר לוין
(Rabbi Levin Square)
named after
Rabbi Pinhas Ya'akov
HaCohen Levin
Minhat Yitzhak St.
1.6 Shikun Chabad ככר הרב עזריאל זעליג סלונים
(Rabbi Azriel
Zelig Slonim Square)
named after
Rabbi Avriel Zelig Slonim
Elkana St.[9]
1.7 Tel Arza, Bukharim ככר הרב אברמסקי
(Rabbi Abramsky Square)
named after
Rabbi Yehezkel Abramsky
Eli HaCohen St.[10]
Tsfanya St.
Bar-Ilan Street
1.73 Tel Arza, Bukharim eastbound only Issa Bracha St.
1.76 Tel Arza, Bukharim Yosef Ziv St.,
HaBucharim St.
1.82 Tel Arza, Bukharim Adoniyahu HaCohen St.
1.87 Mahanayim, Bukharim Hacham Shmuel Bruchim St.,
Ki Tov St.
1.89 Mahanayim, Bukharim Rabeinu Gershom St.
1.93 Mahanayim, Bukharim westbound only HaGaon MiTurda St.
1.96 Mahanayim, Bukharim Ohalei Yosef St.,
Evyatar HaCohen St.[11]
2.08 Mahanayim, Bukharim eastbound only Avinadav St.[12]
2.2 Mahanayim, Bukharim,
Sanhedriya, Shmuel HaNavi
ככר בית החיים
(Beit HaHayyim Square)
House of Life
(name of adjacent
municipal Funeral Home)
Route 436
(Shmuel HaNavi St.)[13]
Hativat HarEl Street
2.4 Sanhedriya, Shmuel HaNavi Etz Hadar St.
2.6 Sanhedriya, Shmuel HaNavi Eretz Hefetz St.
Levi Eshkol Boulevard
2.65 Ramat Eshkol,
Ma'alot Dafna
westbound only Mikvei Yisrael St.
2.7 Ramat Eshkol,
Ma'alot Dafna
Mismar HaGvul St.
2.8 Green Line
2.9 Ramat Eshkol,
Ma'alot Dafna
Ma'avar HaMitla St.,
Ya'akov (Carl) Netter St.
3.5 Ramat Eshkol,
Givat HaMivtar
Sheshet HaYammim St.
3.6 Givat HaMivtar,
Givat HaTahmoshet,
Kiryat Menachem Begin,
HaGiv'a HaTzarfatit
ככר מיינרצהאגן
(Meinertzhagen Square)



named after
Richard Meinertzhagen
Highway 60
(Haim Bar-Lev Blvd.)
Jerusalem Light Rail Station
Hebrew University Blvd.
4.1 Kiryat Menachem Begin,
Har HaTsofim
Aharon Katzir St.
4.2 Wadi al-Joz,
Har HaTsofim
Shayeret HaTzofim Blvd.,
Yitzhak HaNadiv St.
(to Har HaTsofim Tunnels)
Wadi Al-Joz Street
4.3 Wadi Al-Joz Beni Ummayya St.
4.5 Wadi Al-Joz Abu Bakir as-Sideeq St.
4.8 Wadi Al-Joz Ibn Tulun St.
4.9 Wadi Al-Joz Uthman ibn Affan St.
5 Wadi Al-Joz Khalid ibn al-Walid St.
5.1 Wadi al-Joz Al-Maqdesi Street St.
Al-Maqdesi Street
5.2 Wadi al-Joz Abu Hanifa St.
5.3 Wadi al-Joz Akhwan as-Saffa St.
5.5 Wadi al-Joz Al-Akhtal St.
5.6 Old City
Wadi al-Joz
Al-Sawaneh
Sultan Suleiman St.,
Samaw'al ibn 'Adiya St.
(At-Tur Road)
Jericho Road
6.4 Old City Lions' Gate Road
6.5 Old City Ophel Road
6.6 Har HaZeitim al-Mansuriya St.
7.2 Ras al-Amud
Ma'ale ha-Zeitim
Har HaZeitim
Panorama St
7.3 Ras al-Amud
Ma'ale ha-Zeitim
Ma'ale ha-Zeitim St
7.5 Har HaZeitim local street
7.7 Ras al-Amud
Wadi Qadum
pedestrians only Ras al-Amud St
al-Sahel al-Akhdar St
7.8 Wadi Qadum al-Ansar St
Nazalat Abu-Suwaiy St
8.2 ash-Sheikh
Wadi Qadum
Wadi Abdallah St.
8.25 ash-Sheikh
Wadi Qadum
al-Wafaa' St
8.75 ash-Sheikh
Wadi Qadum
local street
9 ash-Sheikh
Wadi Qadum
Abu Dis
Ras al-Qubsa Square ash-Sheikh St.
Ras al-Qubsa St.
Jerusalem Municipality
NO eastbound through-traffic
9 Abu Dis Security Checkpoint (closed)
NO westbound through-traffic
9.5 Abu Dis 12 local streets
10.3 Abu Dis, al-Eizariya local street
10.9 al-Eizariya 19 local streets
12.2 Jahalin 5 local streets
12.5 Jahalin local street
12.6 Jahalin 2 local streets
NO westbound through-traffic for yellow (Israeli) license plates
13.7 Kedar Kedar Road
13.8 Ma'ale Adumim צומת מעלה אדומים
(Ma'ale Adumim Junction)
Derech Har HaBayit
16 Ma'ale Adumim מחלף אדומים
(Adumim Interchange)

Red (Ascent)
Highway 1

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Ruth Lapidot, et al., Amnon Ramon, ed. (2007). "The Historic Basin of Jerusalem - Problems and possible solutions" (PDF). Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies. p. 27. Retrieved 2012-01-28. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Information about Jerusalem Street Names". Jerusalem Municipality. Retrieved 2012-02-03.(in Hebrew)
  3. ^ Joel 4:2
  4. ^ Exodus 31:6
  5. ^ Ezekiel 16:10
  6. ^ Genesis 4:22
  7. ^ Exodus 26:1 and following
  8. ^ Judges 3:31
  9. ^ 1 Samuel 1:1
  10. ^ 1 Samuel 1:9
  11. ^ 1 Kings 1:7
  12. ^ 1 Samuel 31:2
  13. ^ 1 Samuel 1:20

31°46′56.05″N 35°14′20.04″E / 31.7822361°N 35.2389000°E / 31.7822361; 35.2389000