West end: Kfar Malal Junction Length 7.2 km | East end: Horshim Interchange | |
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Major cities Ra'anana, Herzliya, Kfar Saba, Kfar Shmaryahu, Rishpon, Kfar Malal, Horshim, Jaljulia, Elishama, Israel | ||
Route 531 (Hebrew: כביש 531), is a suburban freeway in the southern Sharon region of Israel, just north of the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area.
Contents
Map of 531, Hod HaSharon, Israel
Herzliya–Ra'anana extension
The highway currently begins at Kfar Malal and Kfar Saba and terminates at Highway 6. In 2008 a PFI tender was issued to continue constructing the highway westward towards Highway 20 (Ayalon Highway) near the Mediterranean coast. By doing so it will pass nearby several large cities and connect all the major north-south highways in the region: Highway 6, Highway 4 and Highway 20. The project also includes extending Highway 20 several kilometers northwards, connecting it and Route 531 to Highway 2 (the Coastal Highway) heading northbound at a new interchange near Ga'ash.
In addition, the project includes constructing a dual-track railway including a long railway tunnel and several passenger stations in the median of the highway along nearly the entire length of the road (using a design similar to the recently completed Route 431 suburban freeway). The new railway will connect the existing Hod HaSharon Railway Station to the Coastal Railway.
Shapir Engineering won the tender to extend the road and railway, but due to financial disagreements and complications caused by the worldwide financial crisis, the government canceled the PFI tender in the summer of 2010. Instead, the project will be funded directly by the treasury and managed by the National Roads Company and be split off to several sections, each of which will be tendered separately at an estimated total cost of NIS 4 billion (equivalent to slightly over US$1 billion), a move which will postpone completion by four years, to late 2017.