Highway 90 (Israel–Palestine)

Highway 90 extends nearly 479 kilometres between the Eilat area and Metula and is described as Israel’s longest road. Its course passes through the Eilat Mountains, Arava, Dead Sea and Jordan Valley regions, Kinneret valleys, Korazim Plateau, Hula Valley and Galilee, linking northern communities with Eilat.[1][2] Five historically separate road sections were joined into a continuous route in the late 1960s.[1]

Published descriptions differ slightly on total length and endpoints. The Road Safety Authority gives 479 kilometres from Metula to Taba.[1] A separate government engineering report calls the road 479 kilometres in its main text but gives 467 kilometres in an appendix, with kilometre markers running from around kilometre 11 north of Eilat to about kilometre 478 at Metula.[6] Media sources commonly describe it as running from Metula to Eilat and give figures around 478–479 kilometres.[2][5]

The engineering report breaks the route into four broad sections: Eilat to Arava Junction, Arava Junction to Almog Junction, Almog Junction to near Sde Trumot, and Sde Trumot to Metula. It describes the second stretch as mainly following the Dead Sea, the third as the Jordan Valley Road, and the northern section as crossing Tiberias and Kiryat Shmona.[6] The four listed distances total 467 kilometres, matching the appendix rather than the 479-kilometre figure in the report’s main text. The report also says that five historical sections were joined; its four-part table is therefore an engineering grouping rather than a different historical count.[6]

A travel essay calls the central Jordan Valley stretch “the Bik’ah” and describes it as a long, winding desert road. The essay gives a figure of 480 kilometres but does not clarify whether that refers to the central section or the entire highway, so it does not settle the route’s total length.[7] A separate travel account describes the Jordan River as lying east of the road from the Naharayim area south to the Dead Sea, where it forms the border between Israel and Jordan.[2]

Route 90 incorporates stretches built in different periods. Some sections date from the Ottoman and British Mandate periods, while sections north of the Dead Sea were paved after the 1967 Six-Day War. The Jordan Rift Valley stretch has been characterized as a lifeline for Beit She’an and nearby peripheral communities, and the Arava stretch as an important route for local communities, Dead Sea factories and travel to Eilat.[4]

Much of the Jordan Valley stretch between Tzemach Junction, south of the Sea of Galilee, and Lido Junction near Jericho and the northern Dead Sea was paved during the British Mandate. One route account gives the stretch as about 110 kilometres, while also describing roughly 108 kilometres of road alongside the river between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea.[2]

A Jewish Virtual Library settlement-history account says that, after the Six-Day War, Yigal Allon proposed annexing the Jordan Valley as a security buffer and that the Allon Road was subsequently paved. It also says the first Jewish communities were built along Road 90 and the Allon Road, and reports that six villages were established along the valley’s main highway between 1967 and 1970; the source does not explicitly identify that highway as Route 90.[8]

The Gaza–Jericho Agreement of May 4, 1994, set out specific arrangements for road sections in the Jericho area. It placed under Israeli authority the Route 90 crossing at Auja from south to north, along with the east–west road connecting it to Yitav and the adjacent road sides, defined as extending at least 12 metres from either side of the centreline. The agreement said these arrangements would continue until superseded by the Interim Agreement or another agreement.[3]

The 1994 agreement also provided for a joint patrol led by a Palestinian vehicle on the main north–south road crossing Jericho, identified as Route 90, and a joint mobile unit at the Auja junction, led by an Israeli vehicle. It prohibited bridges or other structures above Route 90 in the Jericho area if they would prevent the passage of vehicles up to 5.25 metres high.[3] The 1995 Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement likewise identified Route 90 through Jericho as the main north–south road and listed it among routes for joint patrols; it stated that patrol operations in a district would begin after redeployment there had been completed.[9] These provisions are historical agreement texts, not by themselves a description of current arrangements.

Route 90 serves as a major north–south artery through the Jordan Valley. A 2024 report places Mehola Junction on the highway, just south of an Israeli checkpoint described as marking the boundary between Beit She’an and the West Bank.[10] A 2023 FDD analysis described the road as connecting Jerusalem with Dead Sea and Jordan Valley communities and characterized it as usually quiet in its account of attacks near Jericho.[11]

The Jordan Valley section passes near Beit She’an, the Sartaba or Alexandrion area, Patsa’el, Argaman, Jericho, Qasr al-Yahud and the northern Dead Sea. A Ynet route account describes the road as running among Jewish and Palestinian communities and near Jericho; it identifies Jericho as being in Area A under Palestinian Authority sovereignty.[12] The descriptions locate the route and nearby communities but do not resolve questions of sovereignty or political status.[12][13]

A 2019 overview of the broader Jordan Valley, rather than only the population immediately beside the highway, listed 27 Jewish settlements with more than 9,000 residents and 10 Palestinian cities and villages, including Jericho, with approximately 65,000 residents. It described most of the valley as undeveloped and sparsely populated; these are dated regional figures, not a current census of the Highway 90 corridor.[8]

Highway 90 also provides access toward the Allenby Bridge crossing. The U.S. Department of State’s travel information lists travel on Route 90 to the crossing as an exception to restrictions on personal travel to the West Bank for U.S. government employees working in Israel and their family members; this is a rule for those employees, not a statement of general public access conditions.[14]

U.S. human-rights reports described restrictions on Palestinian driving in the Jordan Valley during the periods they covered. The 2008 report said Highway 90 itself was not explicitly restricted to Palestinian use, but that Palestinians who did not live in the valley had been prohibited from driving cars through its four main access points since April 2007.[15] The 2009 report said non-residents generally could not drive on the road, attributing the access-point restriction to the 2007 killing of two Israeli policemen; it listed public transportation, cars belonging to valley residents and specially permitted cars as alternatives.[16] A 2010 report also said non-residents generally could not drive on Highway 90, but did not specify a Highway 90-specific rationale or the same access-point details.[17] These reports cover distinct years and do not establish present-day access rules.

The highway’s economic role varies along its length. In the Jordan Valley it provides a principal connection for Beit She’an and nearby communities, while the Arava section serves isolated communities, Dead Sea industrial facilities and traffic travelling to and from Eilat.[4] Its passage through agricultural valleys, desert landscapes, historic communities and the Dead Sea region has also made it a recurring subject of travel writing and domestic tourism accounts.[2][7]

Sites near the Jordan Valley portion include Beit She’an, Sartaba or Alexandrion, Patsa’el, Argaman, Jericho, Qasr al-Yahud and the northern Dead Sea.[12] Near Beit She’an, the Tel Rehov synagogue mosaic preserves evidence of Jewish communal and halakhic life during the Byzantine period. Farther south, Sartaba is associated with a Hasmonean fortress attributed to Alexander Jannaeus and with the beacon system used to announce the new Hebrew month during the Second Temple period.[12]

Near Jericho, access roads lead toward Qasr al-Yahud and the Allenby Bridge. The Ynet route account associates Qasr al-Yahud with Jewish traditions concerning the Israelites’ crossing of the Jordan and Elijah’s ascent, as well as the Christian tradition of Jesus’s baptism. It also identifies Jericho sites including the ancient Shalom Al Yisrael synagogue and the Hasmonean palaces.[12]

The road’s design varies substantially by section. The Eilat–Yotvata stretch is a divided four-lane road with a rigid median, and work was underway at the time of the government engineering report to extend the divided road toward Ketura. Much of the route from Ketura through the Arava, Dead Sea and Jordan Valley was instead a two-way single carriageway, with one lane in each direction and no median; the northern section included both undivided stretches and some divided four-lane sections.[6]

Safety reports identify severe crashes as a longstanding concern on parts of the highway. Since 2013, the Road Safety Authority’s report recorded 30 fatal crashes and 71 serious crashes on specified interurban sections away from intersections, causing 54 deaths and 131 serious injuries. Head-on or front-to-side collisions accounted for 17 fatal crashes and 31 serious crashes, with 40 deaths and 74 serious injuries; the figures apply to the specified road sections, not necessarily every crash on Route 90.[1]

For the southern 170 kilometres, the Knesset Research and Information Center recorded 142 injury-causing crashes from 2010 through May 2021: 24 fatal, 43 involving serious injuries and 75 involving slight injuries, with 35 fatalities. Eighteen fatal crashes occurred between kilometres 61 and 170, and six in the first 60 kilometres; the 2021 figures were provisional and covered January through May only.[18] Separate media reports citing Or Yarok gave historical crash figures for sections of the Jordan Valley and Arava, including 68 deaths on an approximately 80-kilometre Jordan Valley segment and 56 deaths on the 130 kilometres between Arava Junction and Yotvata over a 14-year period.[19][20]

The Road Safety Authority identifies rural isolation, long and monotonous driving, high speeds, distraction, fatigue, frequent overtaking, limited police presence and the lack of a median on many sections as factors relevant to severe crashes. It recommends measures addressing drivers, vehicles and infrastructure, including separators, rumble strips and consideration of a 2+1 road design with a cable barrier.[1] A 2017 speed survey cited in the report found average speeds of 97 kilometres per hour on the southern Ketura–Arava Junction section and 86.8 kilometres per hour on a northern section, both posted at 80 kilometres per hour. The measured 85th-percentile speeds were 112 and 98.2 kilometres per hour, respectively.[1]

Improvements have been announced and completed on different parts of the road. In June 2022, ministers agreed to allocate NIS 110 million for safety measures on about 100 kilometres between Arava Junction and Nahal Shita, including passing lanes, parking bays and lighting, in addition to NIS 300 million previously approved to widen about 20 kilometres between Nahal Shita and Ketura Junction.[21] An earlier 18-kilometre upgrade between the entrance checkpoint to Eilat and Timna Junction, inaugurated in January 2011, converted a two-lane single carriageway into four lanes on two carriageways, added a barrier between traffic directions and installed lighting.[5] The Knesset report separately described about 50 kilometres from Eilat to Ketura as upgraded, while roughly 120 kilometres from Ketura to Arava Junction had not received extensive widening and infrastructure work at the time, citing lack of funding.[18]

The Dead Sea basin’s changing landscape has affected land uses near the highway. The continuing decline in the Dead Sea’s level since the 1950s has produced major changes, including the formation of sinkholes. The Geological Institute developed instruments to detect impending surface failures and alert authorities, and a sinkhole on Route 90 is cited as an example of an event that prompted evacuation of land uses.[22]

On December 4, 2014, an oil spill near Be’er Ora flooded Route 90 and blocked traffic travelling both into and out of Eilat. The spill followed damage to the Trans-Israel oil pipeline during maintenance work; it covered five square miles and contaminated streams, rivers and part of the Evrona nature preserve.[23]

A travel essay presents the Jordan Valley highway as a place where Jewish and Arab travellers may encounter one another. The author recounts waving to a family in a Palestinian-plated car as it turned toward Jericho while the author was driving toward Jerusalem, but explicitly cautions that the brief exchange should not be mistaken for a solution to regional tensions.[7]