Highway 71 (Israel)

Highway 71 runs east from Afula, which sits at a highway and railway crossroads that was long considered an asset for the town's role as an urban center for Jewish settlements in the Jezreel Valley.[6] From Afula, the road crosses the Jezreel Valley toward Beit She'an and the Jordan River crossing to Jordan.[1][2]

Several junctions along the route connect it to the broader regional road network. Navot Junction marks the intersection where Route 675, descending from Tel Yizre'el, meets Route 71.[1] The junction's name reflects the biblical account of Naboth's vineyard — "Navot" being the Hebrew pronunciation of Naboth, whose story is associated with the Jezreel Valley.[1] Further east, HaShita Junction connects Route 71 to Route 669, which leads to Kibbutz Nir David and nearby attractions including Gan HaShloshah, Beit Alpha Synagogue, and Beit She'an National Park.[7] The road also passes kibbutzim such as Sde Nahum and Beit Hashita in the Beit She'an Valley.[8]

Ma'ayan Harod National Park lies along Highway 71 between Afula and Beit She'an, at the foot of Mount Gilboa near Gideona. The park encompasses the Hankin house and family tomb, a museum dedicated to pioneering land-purchaser Yehoshua Hankin, a spring, a brook, a swimming pool, and picnic areas.[9]

The Jezreel Valley has functioned as a transportation corridor since ancient times, linking the Mediterranean coast to areas east of the Jordan River and to Egypt.[1] Highway 71 continues that tradition in modern form: it serves as a major truck route carrying goods between Haifa's port and Jordan, with Amman-originating freight regularly traveling through the valley toward the coast.[1][2]

Afula's position at the western terminus of the highway contributed to its planning as the principal urban center for Jezreel Valley settlements, with road and rail connections running in multiple directions, including southeast toward Beit She'an.[6]

In 2015, Highway 71 was described as having one lane in each direction, with most of its length lacking a median barrier.[2] The same report said traffic was especially heavy in part because the road served trucks moving between Haifa port and Jordan.[2] Figures from the road-safety organization Or Yarok, reported in 2015, counted more than 30 fatalities and more than 900 injuries — including 100 serious — on the highway during 2005–2014.[2] A January 2017 report drew on Or Yarok data for a 14-year period and recorded 368 crashes, 35 deaths, 147 people seriously injured, and 1,146 lightly injured.[3] A 2013 collision between Kibbutz Sde Nahum and Kibbutz Beit Hashita, in the Beit She'an Valley, drew rescue workers from both Afula and Beit She'an.[8] The Gilboa Regional Council's head characterized fatal crashes as a recurring annual occurrence.[3]

By 2015, residents and local officials had organized demonstrations demanding safety improvements and a wider road.[2] One local activist captured the mood: "There is a lot of traffic here, a lot of trucks that endanger everyone on the road. You feel like you're playing Russian roulette."[3]

The Transportation Ministry stated in early 2017 that it and the national roads company had begun upgrading the highway approximately two years earlier, at a total cost of more than NIS 1 billion.[3] The planned works included converting the road from a single carriageway to a dual carriageway with two lanes in each direction, adding grade-separated junctions — including at Highway 765 and at connections to local communities — and building bridge systems over railway tracks. The ministry separately specified a 55-meter bridge near the Highway 669 junction and a 60-meter bridge over Highway 71. Roundabouts were built and rumble strips installed on some sections.[3]

Residents nonetheless raised objections, noting that some interchange construction had focused on crossings between the highway and the new Valley Railway alignment rather than on broader safety needs along the full corridor.[3] A 2020 report identified a 12-kilometer section between the Issachar junction and Beit She'an where converting at-grade junctions into full interchanges would require an estimated NIS 422 million; the project was described as implementation-ready but stalled because its budget was frozen.[10] That section recorded eight crashes in 2019 alone, with one person seriously injured and 24 lightly injured.[10]

Highway 71's expansion into a dual carriageway with added interchanges between Beit She'an and the Yissachar junction appeared in successive editions of Israel's government Infrastructure for Growth program. The 2019 edition listed the project — described as connecting Afula and Beit She'an, with focus on the Beit She'an–Yissachar section — at the "Initiation" stage, with an estimated cost of NIS 510 million and a projected construction start in the third quarter of 2019 over a three-year duration.[11]

By the 2025 edition, the project was categorized as "Completed," and the 2026 edition carried the same status.[4][5] The 2025 program gave a construction-cost estimate of NIS 487 million, while the 2026 program gave NIS 567 million; both listed an expected construction duration of four years. These are edition-specific estimates, and the documents do not explain the revision.[4][5] The 2026 program describes the work as having doubled the highway by adding a parallel carriageway and new interchanges along the Beit She'an-to-Yissachar-junction segment.[4]

Highway expansion plans near the Ein Harod junction prompted a local heritage dispute. A state-advanced plan to widen Highway 71 in that area was reported in 2017 to potentially affect a historic cooperative building designed by architect Shmuel Bikels. The Gilboa Regional Council opposed damage to the structure and stated it was examining ways to prevent or minimize the impact, framing the situation as a conflict between road development and the preservation of the Harod Valley's cultural heritage.[12]