Highway 45 is the official designation of a 3.3 km stretch of road forming a continuous connection between
Route 443 from the
Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area
Gush Dan ( he, גּוּשׁ דָּן, ''lit.'' "Dan bloc") or Tel Aviv metropolitan area ( he, מֶטְרוֹפּוֹלִין תֵּל אָבִיב) is a conurbation in Israel, located along the country's Mediterranean coastline. There is no sing ...
and
Highway 50 (Begin Boulevard) to central
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
and a 1.4 km spur serving the
Atarot Industrial Park.
Route
The road begins as a continuation of Route 443 at the traffic-light controlled
Junction. It runs east-southeast for 3.3 km as a high-speed four lane divided highway. At the traffic-light controlled
Atarot
Atarot ( he, עטרות) was a moshav in Mandatory Palestine, north of Jerusalem along the highway to Ramallah. It was named after the biblical Atarot mentioned in , which is believed to have been situated nearby. The moshav was captured and d ...
Junction it becomes Highway 50 (Begin Boulevard). The officially numbered "45" takes a 90-degree turn. Here, running northeast then east-northeast, it becomes a 2 lane local street
running 0.8 km to the
Atarot Industrial Zone and the closed entrance to
Atarot Airport. After another 0.6 km the road as numbered ends at Airport Street.
The road itself then continues an additional 0.6 km to
Highway 60 adjacent to the
Qalandia security checkpoint
Civilian checkpoints or security checkpoints are distinguishable from border or frontier checkpoints in that they are erected and enforced within contiguous areas under military or paramilitary control. Civilian checkpoints have been employed w ...
. However this last section is no longer officially numbered 45.
History
In the late 1990s, the Israel Ministry of Transport planned to construct Highway 45 from
Highway 1 near
Ben Gurion International Airport
Ben Gurion International Airport, ; ar, مطار بن غوريون الدولي , commonly known by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the main international airport of Israel. Situated on the northern outskirts of the city of Lod, it is th ...
through the
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
north of the Modi'im Stream passing slightly north of
Beit Horon and
Beit Ur al-Fauqa
Beit Ur al-Fauqa ( ar, بيت عور الفوقا) is a Palestinians, Palestinian village located in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the northern West Bank, west of Ramallah and southeast of Beit Ur al-Tahta. ...
to the Atarot Industrial Park in Jerusalem.
The current Route 443 just south of these towns as well as political considerations has made that plan irrelevant,
leaving the small portion of Highway 45 between Giv'at Zeev and Atarot completed in 2003.
Excavations in the hillsides performed in the 1990s can still be seen just northwest of Givat Ze'ev junction.
Furthermore, an easterly extension is still envisioned which would continue from Atarot and connect with
Route 437 and the
Eastern Ring Road.
The construction of the
West Bank security barrier along the right of way of Highway 45 east of Atarot and the Qalandia security checkpoint places limitations on that plan. A possible solution would involve tunnels and bridges.
In 2017, the Israel Ministry of Transportation announced a five-year plan which includes just such an extension of this section with grade separation at the Qalandia Checkpoint.
In the meantime, the completion of
Jerusalem Road 20, 3.7 km further south, provides an alternate route to 437.
Further east, 45 is intended to eventually reach the border with
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
north of the
Dead Sea to connect with the road to
Amman.
Junctions and Interchanges (west to east)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:45
Roads in Israel