Highway 85 (Israel)

Highway 85 begins in Acre (Akko), a coastal city at the junction of National Roads 4 and 85, where the road is known locally as Ben Ami Street.[1][3] From Acre the highway runs eastward, passing through or near the communities of the Beit HaKerem Valley — including Karmiel — before continuing toward Nahal Amud Junction and ultimately reaching Amiad Junction, where it terminates at its connection with Highway 90.[1][2]

Karmiel, described by Encyclopaedia Britannica as lying in the Valley of Bet Kerem on the boundary of Upper and Lower Galilee, sits just off this main east–west corridor.[5] East of Karmiel, the road crosses two significant stream valleys: Nahal Amud and Nahal Akbara (Ekhbara), both of which required major bridge construction during the highway's modern expansion.[6][7] The Israel Forever Foundation notes that the section between Hanania Intersection and Nahal Amud passes the Ein Kamonim Goat Farm, offering a sense of the rural character of that stretch.[8]

The Acre–Safed corridor has ancient precedents as a travel route through the Galilee. Archaeologists working near Rumat al-Heib, about 20 kilometers west of Tiberias, uncovered a section of Roman road that the Israel Antiquities Authority dated to the second century CE, stating it was paved under the emperor Hadrian and later renovated in the Byzantine period — though this ancient road ran between Acre, Sepphoris, and Tiberias and is not identified as a direct predecessor to modern Highway 85.[9]

In 2006, the Israel National Roads Company announced a major expansion project covering sections of Highways 65 and 85 totaling 35 kilometers. The sections were described at the time as two-lane roads that would be widened to six lanes at a combined cost of NIS 778 million; the project also included an interchange near Nahal Amud and was described as intended to help bypass Tiberias.[10] A 2009 report confirmed that an upgrade between Nahal Amud Junction and Amiad Junction had been completed the previous year.[2]

In 2010, a 1.1-kilometer section of Highway 85 east of Karmiel became Israel's first experimental road surface made with an asphalt blend containing rubber granules from recycled tires. The initiative was a joint project of the Transport Ministry, the Environmental Protection Ministry, and the Technion, using material from approximately 1,900 used tires. The raw material and paving cost an estimated NIS 300,000 — roughly equivalent to standard paving — and the rubber blend was projected to extend the road's lifespan by one-third.[11]

The most significant transformation of Highway 85 came through a large joint upgrade project covering the corridor between Golani Interchange and Amiad Junction. In 2014, new lanes south of the existing road opened on the stretch between Kadarim and Amiad, carrying traffic across two newly built bridges: the Nahal Amud bridge, 340 meters long and 30 meters high, and the Nahal Ekhbara bridge, approximately 120 meters long and of similar height.[7] The project aimed to convert the route into a divided, multilane highway to reduce congestion on one of the Galilee's main arteries.

Alongside the major bridges, two full interchanges were constructed — at Kadarim near Nahal Amud Junction and at Tzalmon — together with six smaller interchanges serving the communities of Kahal, Kadarim, Massad, Eilabun, Bu'eine-Nujeidat, and Beit Netofa.[12] The design intent was to allow continuous travel from Amiad through Golani and HaMovil to Alonim without traffic signals. Environmental mitigation was incorporated into the works, including stream corridor restoration, relocation of bulb and tuber plants, underpasses and an overpass for wildlife movement, and preservation of local water pools. A dedicated 40-meter wildlife crossing was planned near Amiad, designed with rocks, soil, and vegetation to blend with the surrounding landscape.[7][12]

In September 2016, the project's final 2.5-kilometer section opened, completing the widening along the project route, with some finishing infrastructure work still to follow.[4] The full project spanned more than 27 kilometers from Amiad to Golani, included eight interchanges and a range of supporting infrastructure, and carried a total cost of NIS 1.2 billion.[4]

While the eastern sections of Highway 85 were substantially upgraded by 2016, the section running east from Karmiel through Hanania Junction toward Nahal Amud required further investment. A 2019 government infrastructure program listed a planned project to widen the Karmiel–Hananiyah section to a two-track, two-lane divided road and to reorganize its junctions, with an estimated construction cost of NIS 300 million, a scheduled tender in the fourth quarter of 2019, a planned construction start in the first quarter of 2020, and an expected duration of three years.[13]

By 2023, widening between Hanania Junction and Karmiel had been completed, and planning and project-readiness work for the stretch from Hanania Junction toward Nahal Amud had received funding, though that section had not yet been widened.[14] The 2023 report gave conflicting figures for that planning and readiness funding: NIS 200 million in one passage and NIS 250 million in another.[14]

The scale of the joint Highways 65 and 85 expansion brought ecological costs alongside its traffic benefits. A 2016 assessment described road widening as damaging natural areas, archaeological sites, and wildlife movement corridors, with open land converted to road surface potentially separating animal populations.[12] Mitigation measures reported alongside the project included stream restoration, plant relocation, wildlife underpasses and the dedicated overpass near Amiad, and the preservation of local water pools.[12]

Highway 85's development has generated notable political and safety debates. In a Knesset plenary session discussing a proposed expansion plan for the Acre–Karmiel–east corridor, MK Ibrahim Tzartzur argued that consolidating the existing entrances to Bi'ina, Majd al-Krum, and Deir al-Asad into a single entrance would seriously harm those communities' economic and social functioning. MK Muhammad Barakeh added that it was "impossible for civilization to pass next to the Arab communities without entering them or touching them." The transport minister offered a general response about advancing existing plans while minimizing land expropriation, but the record does not establish whether the proposed entrance changes were modified or cancelled.[15]

Safety on the Karmiel–Hanania section has also drawn attention. A 2020 report documented 21 crashes on that eight-kilometer stretch in a single year, resulting in two fatalities, ten serious injuries, and 64 light injuries. A Transport Ministry assessment cited in the report characterized the segment as especially dangerous due to unregulated entrances, hazardous road geometry limiting sight distance, and inadequate lighting. Proposed improvements included safety barriers, junction upgrades, and better lighting; NIS 100 million had already been spent on land acquisition, planning, and site preparation, with a further NIS 272 million identified as needed.[16]