Highway 5 (Israel–Palestine)

Highway 5 links the Tel Aviv metropolitan area with Ariel, while the connected Cross-Samaria route continues toward the Jordan Valley.[1][3] Highway 5 runs between Ariel and Glilot West Interchange, while Highway 505 runs between Sha'ar Shomron Interchange and Psael Junction.[1] The latter connection links the Jordan Valley with the coastal plain.[1]

The route extends into the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria. There, Highway 5 continues toward Ariel as Route 505 after the approach from Highway 6 at Kfar Qasem Junction.[4] Highway 5 is classified among the region’s main east–west roads, in contrast to the north–south orientation of Highways 60 and 90.[5] Its western connections include Highway 6, Highway 4, the Ayalon Highway, and the Coastal Highway.[6]

The broader corridor includes Tapuach Junction, where Road 505 meets Route 60, the mountain road connecting Jenin and Nablus with Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Hebron.[7] Road 505 serves Israeli travel between Gush Dan, Ariel, and the Jordan Valley, and both Palestinian and Israeli traffic use the junction.[7] The Evyatar outpost was established on a hill overlooking the corridor from the north.[3]

At its eastern end, Highway 5 reaches a roundabout in Ariel, where the motorway transitions to a narrower road winding through the surrounding hills.[8] The Green Line had been crossed roughly 20 kilometers before that point.[8]

By October 24, 2000, a new Cross-Samaria road had opened to traffic and the old route had closed.[9] The closure followed stone-throwing and shootings at Israeli vehicles along the older road, particularly from the villages of Mas-ha and Bidya.[9] Access to the new road included an entrance through the Barkan industrial zone.[9]

In 2002, the Public Works Department was widening Highway 5 by adding one lane in each direction, with three lanes in each direction planned.[10] The work was estimated to cost NIS 68 million.[10] The section between Yarkon and Morasha interchanges passed through Yarkon Nature Reserve, where the district engineer warned that deviations during construction could halt the work.[10]

The road also became a reference point in planning the separation fence.[11] In July 2002, Defense Ministry director-general Amos Yaron decided to extend the fence by three kilometers near Sha'arei Tikva, Etz Efraim, and Elkana, bringing it to the new Highway 5.[11] The planned alignment placed the three settlements on the Israeli side and was described at the time as incorporating about one kilometer of Palestinian Authority territory; the extension was expected to add several million shekels to construction costs.[11]

A road map published in Tel Aviv by the Survey of Israel in 2006 included interchange information dated 2003–2004 on its reverse side.[12] Its catalog lists “Herzliya–Ariel” and “Highway 5” as separate interchange-diagram entries.[12]

The Rosh Ha'ayin East Interchange opened in 2016, providing access from Highway 5 to the city’s Givot Mizrachiot neighborhood.[13] The project also added lanes in each direction along a 1.1-kilometer section of the highway and was completed several months ahead of schedule.[13]

In May 2024, an additional lane opened at the Shomron crossing on Highway 5.[14] The NIS 15 million works included another inspection position and additional personnel, while a separate upgrade of the security crossing was underway at an estimated cost of about NIS 100 million.[14] Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attended the expansion ceremony.[15] The expansion formed part of a Defense Ministry program to upgrade 16 crossings along the Green Line.[16]

By April 2025, Netivei Israel had completed the third section of Highway 5’s public-transport lane project, between Morasha Interchange and the Yarkon River.[17] The approximately three-kilometer section joined earlier sections to create a continuous, 11-kilometer public-transport lane in both directions between Qesem and Glilot interchanges.[17] The Glilot–HaKfar HaYarok section had opened in early 2021, followed by the Yarkon River–Qesem section in 2023.[17] The final section cost about NIS 300 million, bringing the reported cost of the three sections to approximately NIS 800 million.[17]

Gitai Avishar Junction on Highway 5 was described in 2018 as a busy, central intersection connecting Ariel with central Israel.[18] Hundreds of Palestinian workers passed through it on their way to work in Israel.[18] Farther west, queues at the Shomron crossing affected tens of thousands of drivers daily in 2024, and officials regarded the congestion as a security risk.[14]

The June 2022 express-lanes proposal covered 25 kilometers of toll lanes from Qesem Interchange along Highway 5 to Glilot Mizrah Interchange and back.[2] Carpools, shuttle services, public transportation, and other eligible vehicles were to use the lanes without charge.[2] The proposal also included integrated transport complexes near Qesem, Tiqwa, and Morasha, with shuttle services to destinations throughout the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.[2]

The program’s stated aims were to provide alternatives to private cars, reduce congestion at metropolitan entrances and exits, and help passengers reach business districts by shuttle.[2] Its proposed private-finance-initiative concession covered financing, design, construction, operation, and maintenance for 28 years and 11 months, after which the project would return to the state.[2] Implementation remained subject to the transport minister declaring the lanes to be express lanes, while the government was promoting a national outline plan for the project.[2]

Planning also addressed the corridor’s eastern continuation.[19] In 2023, Transport Minister Miri Regev and Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan agreed to plan an extension from Tapuach Junction to Patsael Junction and the Jordan Valley road, at an estimated additional cost of NIS 1.5 billion.[19] This was a planning proposal rather than a completed extension.[19]

At the 2024 checkpoint ceremony, Gallant called Route 5 the main traffic artery from central Israel to the Jordan Valley and said further work was needed around Ariel, Kfar Tapuach, and farther east.[15] He also advocated a large city east of Ariel and argued that the route could help move Israel’s population eastward.[14]

One strategic-analysis paper says that, during the Oslo process, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin regarded west–east corridors across the West Bank as vital to Israel and considered control of the Highway 5 corridor necessary for controlling the Jordan Valley.[3] In 1997, Israeli security planners viewed the Trans-Samaria Highway and other east–west roads as routes for rapid military deployment from the coastal heartland to the Jordan Valley during a crisis or war.[20]

Tapuach Junction became significant in discussions of territorial control under the 1995 Interim Agreement.[7] Under that arrangement, the Palestinian Authority had responsibility and authority in Area A and civil authority in Area B, while Area C remained under the authority and responsibility of the Israeli military government.[7] Proposals associated with Camp David in 2000, Taba in 2001, Annapolis in 2008, and Ehud Olmert’s 2009 proposal envisaged transferring the junction to Palestinian control; these were proposals, not implemented transfers.[7]

Descriptions of the January 2020 Trump plan differed in emphasis: one placed Tapuach Junction and its surroundings in a future Palestinian state, with Israeli access to the Jordan Valley through a bypass, while another identified Route 505 from Ariel to the valley among routes intended to remain under Israeli control.[7][21] The latter analysis also described proposed roads, interchanges, and tunnels connecting Palestinian areas.[21]

Traffic access has also been disputed.[4][9] A 2010 account rejected the characterization of Route 505 as Jewish-only, stating that Palestinian traffic was permitted and that Israeli traffic faced a barrier on a 5.5-kilometer stretch between Elkana and Kiryat Netafim.[4] Reporting from October 2000 differed over whether one or two checkpoints operated on the new road and how vehicles were searched.[9]

The proposed eastward extension was linked by its proponents to increasing the Jewish population in the region, while its potential to complicate a future political agreement was also raised.[19] Route terminology likewise varies: official guidance distinguishes Highways 5 and 505, whereas broader strategic descriptions sometimes use Highway 5 or Trans-Samaria Highway for the corridor toward the Jordan Valley.[1][3]