Highway 1 (Israel)

Highway 1 runs from Tel Aviv–Yafo on Israel's Mediterranean coast through Jerusalem and east toward the Dead Sea, where travelers leave it for Highway 90.[1] Its Tel Aviv–Jerusalem portion is the principal modern road artery between the two cities.[2]

The mountainous stretch from Sha'ar Hagai to Jerusalem's western entrance is roughly 16 kilometers long. It was built in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and Highway 1 was inaugurated in 1977; the section was characterized by sharp curves, steep inclines, and the notorious Motza bend.[3] Before the upgrade completed in 2017, this section had two lanes in each direction and carried about 7,000 vehicles per hour during peak periods.[3][8]

In Jerusalem, access toward Ma'ale Adumim is available through the French Hill area and via the Mount Scopus road.[9] East of the city, Highway 1 passes through Judea and Samaria and desert terrain near Ma'ale Adumim, Kfar Adumim, Alon, and Mitzpe Jericho before approaching the Dead Sea.[1] A north-Jerusalem tunnel project announced in 2020 was designed to permit travel from Tel Aviv to the Dead Sea along Route 1 without encountering a traffic light.[10] The eastern Jerusalem-to-Dead Sea corridor and the sites described along it lie beyond the Green Line.[1]

Before the Ottoman railway between Jaffa and Jerusalem opened in 1892, the journey from the coast to Jerusalem took two days by mule.[11] In the years leading up to Israeli independence, Jewish convoys traveling the road were attacked repeatedly, and the route became a lifeline under siege during the 1948 War of Independence.[11]

The climactic battle for the road came at Bab el-Wad, 23 kilometers from Jerusalem. A U.S. Consul's telegram reported that Haganah forces began fighting on a Saturday night to open the Jerusalem–Tel Aviv road and succeeded the following Monday afternoon after heavy fighting.[4] Arab forces initially pushed back the Jewish attacks before reinforcements arrived, enabling Jewish forces to take key hills and positions on both sides of the road; engineers used bulldozers to clear roadblocks while the fighting continued.[4] Roughly 4,500 people were reported engaged, though the same dispatch said the actual number was probably much lower. A food convoy from Tel Aviv was expected the following Tuesday, while the British High Commissioner predicted the road would soon be closed again by Arab Legion armor.[4]

With conventional road access impossible for much of the siege, Michael "Mickey" Marcus helped organize the Burma Road, a winding bypass that enabled relief convoys to reach Jerusalem on June 9, 1948.[2] It provided relief for nearly five months, until a road connecting Nachshon and Shimshon Junctions opened in December 1948.[2] Burned-out shells of armored vehicles used during the supply runs have been maintained as a memorial along the Bab el-Wad stretch, and the episode is commemorated in Haim Gouri's song "Bab El Wad."[5]

From 1948 to 1967, Israel lacked control of the original road near Latrun and used a detour around the area.[2] The principal modern artery was completed around Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's 1977 visit to Israel and was used to transport him for security reasons before it opened to the public.[2] A 1989 attack on a public bus traveling Highway 1 from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem killed and wounded passengers.[12]

Plans announced in 2012 called for a major reconstruction of the Sha'ar Hagai–Jerusalem section, which was completed in 2017.[3][8] The project added a third lane in each direction, raised the roadbed at Sha'ar Hagai by eight meters, straightened sharp curves, and constructed tunnels and bridges.[3][8]

The Harel tunnels were built beneath the Harel interchange, while the Motza Bridge replaced the bend long known as the "death curve."[3] The tunnels and bridge opened before the final third lanes entered service in June 2017, completing an upgrade valued at NIS 2.5 billion.[8] The project was projected to reduce the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem drive to about 35 minutes when there was no heavy traffic; this was a project estimate rather than a current travel-time guarantee.[8]

A 2018 proposal called for converting the eastern section of Route 1 near the Dead Sea from an undivided road into a divided highway, although it remained at the planning stage at the time.[13] A separate project announced in 2020 involved tunnels under French Hill intended to facilitate continuous travel along Route 1 from Ramot through Pisgat Ze'ev toward Ma'ale Adumim and the Dead Sea without traffic lights.[10]

Approximately 9,300 cars entered Jerusalem via Route 1 between 6:00 and 10:00 in the morning, measured between Sha'ar Hagai and Shoresh and averaged over 2012–13.[14] About 6,600 cars entered via the parallel Route 443 corridor, although those figures were collected using 2015 data and therefore do not cover the same period.[14]

Highway 1 has enduring strategic importance as Jerusalem's principal western road artery.[2] After independence, historical accounts describe it as Jerusalem's only western road access through the surrounding territory.[11] Route 443, the parallel road linking Jerusalem with Tel Aviv through Modi'in, runs through Judea and Samaria, and some Israeli drivers have avoided it because of security concerns associated with the Second Intifada.[11]

The U.S. State Department's travel advisory generally restricts personal travel by U.S. government employees in the West Bank but permits them to use Routes 1, 90, and 443 at any time.[15]

The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies argues that the west-to-east corridor from Israel's coast through Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim toward the Jordan Valley constitutes "the only safe route via which Israel can mobilize troops from the coast to the Jordan Valley in a case of emergency." It advocates completing the Jerusalem–Ma'ale Adumim connection through E1, although its article does not explicitly identify the entire corridor as Route 1.[7] INSS identifies Route 1's eastern section as the axis connecting Jerusalem with Ma'ale Adumim and leading toward the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley.[6]

The village of Beit Iksa, with a reported population of approximately 1,200, overlooks Highway 1. A Jerusalem Institute report said the village was about 700 meters from the road and characterized its planned placement on the Israeli side of the security barrier as effectively annexing it to the "Israeli side."[16]

East of Jerusalem, Highway 1 connects the city with Ma'ale Adumim and runs adjacent to E1, a roughly 12-square-kilometer area stretching west from Ma'ale Adumim toward Jerusalem. E1 lies within Ma'ale Adumim's municipal jurisdiction and remains largely open and undeveloped apart from the Israel Police's Judea and Samaria District headquarters.[6]

Israeli planning in E1 dates to the 1990s, with successive governments advancing, freezing, and reviving proposals over subsequent decades.[6] Two plans totaling 3,401 housing units were approved about a year before September 2026, and in August 2026 the Ministry of Construction and Housing issued a tender for 1,234 units. Issuing the tender did not mean construction had begun, and further stages remained necessary.[6] Most of the area has been declared state land by Israel; other sections were expropriated in the 1970s for Ma'ale Adumim, while privately owned Palestinian enclaves remain but are excluded from the construction plans.[6]

Israel's stated objective is to strengthen the connection between Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim and create Israeli settlement continuity between them.[6] In March 2025, Israel's security cabinet approved road plans near Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim, including a "Fabric of Life" route connecting az-Za'ayyem and al-Eizariya that would divert Palestinian traffic away from Highway 1 and the Ma'ale Adumim area. A proposed Route 80 would run east of Ma'ale Adumim toward the Good Samaritan Interchange. The Prime Minister's Office said the plans would ease congestion and improve security.[17]

By 2026, one section of the Fabric of Life road, from Ramallah to a-Za'ayyem, was already usable. A further section was planned to connect with al-Eizariya through a tunnel beneath Highway 1, with one lane in each direction.[18]

Highway 1's eastern section and the surrounding E1 area are subjects of sustained political and diplomatic dispute. Palestinians and much of the international community regard the area as important to territorial continuity between the northern and southern West Bank and to connections between Palestinian communities and East Jerusalem.[6] Western governments have warned that E1 construction could create a "wedge" disrupting Palestinian territorial contiguity, while Israel presents the area as strategically important to its position east of Jerusalem.[6]

Critics argue that construction in E1 would interrupt Palestinian territorial continuity between the Ramallah area and the Bethlehem–Hebron area and undermine the viability of a future Palestinian state.[19] Peace Now warned in 2025 that approved road plans could cut nearby Palestinian communities off from the rest of the West Bank and reduce their practical car access.[17]

INSS cautions that E1 is not the only transit route between the northern and southern West Bank: some traffic between the Ramallah area and Bethlehem already travels around Jerusalem through al-Azariya, Abu Dis, and Wadi Nar.[6] It distinguishes practical movement from political sovereignty, stating: "Transportation contiguity is not equivalent to sovereign contiguity."[6] The institute says E1 construction would reduce the area available for Palestinian territorial contiguity and increase reliance on routes under Israeli control, while concluding that it would not by itself "split the West Bank in two."[6]

A local attorney quoted by Ynet said Palestinians use Highway 1 to reach Jericho or travel from Jericho toward Ramallah. He argued that E1 construction would prevent that use and called the separate Palestinian route an "apartheid road"; these were his characterizations in a contested political and legal dispute, not settled determinations.[19]