Highway 79 (Israel)

The road connects Afek and Gale'am junctions and links by a large interchange to the Trans-Israel Highway.[4] A Knesset committee gave its statutory width as 100 meters.[4] The corridor serves Kiryat Ata, Shefa-Amr and the Nazareth area. Near Alon HaGalil and Bir al-Maksur, the Yiftah'el Interchange connects Highway 79 with Highway 784, which leads to Hanaton, Kafr Manda and localities in the Misgav Regional Council.[5][3]

Together with Highways 75 and 70, Highway 79 forms part of the main road network linking the Nazareth cluster to the Haifa metropolitan area.[3] Sources differ on the road's stated length and endpoint: a 2021 report described it as running 32 kilometers from Kiryat Bialik to Nof HaGalil, while a 2016 report described a 28-kilometer road between Kiryat Bialik and Nazareth.[2][1]

The road's early planning was shaped by broader national infrastructure policy. Amendment 11A to National Outline Plan 3, which came into force on December 19, 1995, canceled the former Highway 79, redesignated it Highway 700, and proposed a new Highway 79 extending to a connection with the Reineh–Mashhad road.[3] The road had already been widened in the 1970s, when it became a major transport artery for the region.[1]

An earlier stalled effort affected the western section. The six-kilometer Afek–Gale'am project was included in the government's 1984 program for improving high-accident roads. It was intended as an alternative to the heavily trafficked Check Post–Tzur Shalom section and to improve heavy-vehicle access to factories in the Krayot area.[6] Work stopped after earthworks and base-course preparation when outside funders withdrew, and it had not resumed by the end of 1987. The original target completion date was 1989, later revised to 1990.[6]

By 2009, a draft National Roads Company five-year plan for 2010–2014 included upgrading the 17.5-kilometer Somakh–HaMovil–Nazareth corridor to a divided main road with separators while reserving a corridor for a future light-rail line.[7] The draft had not received final approval at that time.[7] That year, the Somakh Interchange project at the junction of Highways 70 and 79 east of Kiryat Ata was awarded at an estimated cost of NIS 350 million.[8] The three-level interchange included bridges, tunnels, dual carriageways with two lanes in each direction, and free right turns in all directions.[8] National Roads Company chief executive Alex Wiznitzer said it was intended to organize traffic on both routes and improve access for travelers from Nazareth and Tiberias toward Haifa, the Krayot and central Israel.[8]

A major multi-year widening program transformed much of Highway 79 into a divided dual-carriageway road. Works included adding lanes, installing a rigid central barrier to prevent head-on collisions, lighting the road, and replacing unauthorized entrances and exits with agricultural crossings and small interchanges.[2] By January 2021, the widening had been completed as far as the entrance to Nazareth and Reina Junction, with an overall project cost reported at NIS 2.5 billion for the 32-kilometer road.[2]

Several key interchanges were constructed or upgraded during this period. The HaMovil Interchange, which replaced the congested junction where Highway 79 meets Highway 77, opened to traffic on July 18, 2011 and includes a 120-meter bridge over Highway 79.[9][10] The new Bir al-Maksur interchange opened on December 7, 2011.[9] The Yiftah'el Interchange later replaced the old junction and connected Highway 79 with the entrance to Alon HaGalil and Highway 784, serving Hanaton, Kafr Manda and localities in the Misgav Regional Council.[5]

At the eastern end of the road, the approximately one-kilometer Tzipori–Nazareth section was covered by Plan G/11561, which came into force on March 7, 2013. It provided for two carriageways with two travel lanes each and a median, along with conversion of the Nazareth entrance junction into the Tzipori Interchange.[3] The plan also provided for a light-rail route within the road cross-section, changes to the entrances serving Tzipori and Ilut, and a connection to the road leading to Tzipori National Park.[3] Possession of the relevant land and demolition of structures took place on June 9, 2014.[3] The Tzipori interchange upgrade opened to passenger traffic in the second quarter of 2020, while the Yiftah'el upgrade was then expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022.[11]

For the final unwidened section between Solelim and Reina Junction, the National Roads Company's 2016 plan covered about eight kilometers of divided main road with two lanes in each direction, plus 1.5 kilometers of secondary roads, at an estimated cost of NIS 600 million. A contractor was expected to be selected the following week.[1] A 2016 Knesset transcript separately cited an expected tender cost of NIS 700 million for the Solalim–Reina section.[12]

Before completion of the widening works, Highway 79 had a serious road-safety record. The National Roads Company described it as dangerous and said parts had been designated a "red road" following several fatal crashes.[1] As of late 2016, the section from Solelim to Reina Junction remained narrow, winding and without a central barrier, while the stretch from the Somakh Interchange through HaMovil to the Shimshit–Solelim Junction had already been widened.[1]

A December 2016 report placed the number of people killed on Highway 79 at 48 over the preceding decade.[1] The Green Light road-safety association separately reported 24 deaths on the specific crash section over the preceding 14 years, a figure covering a different area and period.[1] The widening program added a rigid central barrier intended to prevent head-on collisions, alongside new lanes and lighting.[2]

Highway 79 has been central to long-range planning for a Haifa–Nazareth light-rail line. In 2010, the proposed route was described as running from near Paulus Street in Nazareth through Nazareth-Illit, Shefa-Amr and Kiryat Ata to the Lev HaMifratz station in Haifa, with complementary widening of Highway 79 between Ein-Afek Junction near Kiryat Motzkin and Nazareth.[3] Preliminary planning was then complete, with approximately one and a half years anticipated for approval and five further years for construction. The estimated cost was about NIS 3 billion, including rolling stock and road-infrastructure upgrades.[3]

These plans were embedded in the highway's physical development. The 2009 National Roads Company draft plan called for preserving a right-of-way for light rail along the planned corridor.[7] By 2021, a median corridor had been prepared along 28 kilometers of the road.[2] The Tzipori and Yiftah'el interchange upgrades were undertaken in preparation for the light-rail project.[11]