Highway 5 or the Trans-Samaria Highway (, ''Kvish Hotze Shomron''), is one of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

's main highways, connecting the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

coast immediately north of

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

with the central Sharon plain and eastwards to

Ariel Ariel may refer to: Film and television *Ariel Award, a Mexican Academy of Film award * ''Ariel'' (film), a 1988 Finnish film by Aki Kaurismäki *, a Russian film directed by Yevgeni Kotov * ''ARIEL Visual'' and ''ARIEL Deluxe'', a 1989 and 1991 ...

and other

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Israeli Jews, Jewish identity or ethni ...

s in the northern

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. The name ''Highway 5'' is commonly used to describe the section of the highway running from the road's western end at the Glilot Interchange until it reaches the main entrance of Ariel. In this capacity it intersects and creates a connection between four important arterial freeways in the northern Tel Aviv area: The Coastal Highway (Highway 2), the

Ayalon Highway Ayalon (, ‘place of deer’) is an Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west ...

(Highway 20), Geha Highway (Highway 4) and the Cross-Israel Highway (Highway 6). An alternate name for the entire highway is ''Kvish Hotze Shomron'' meaning the ''Trans-Samaria Highway'' though often this name is used when referring specifically to the section of the road in the West Bank, i.e., past the Green Line, where it continues east towards the Jordan Valley in the West Bank. This section from the Green Line to its eastern end has also been dedicated as "Derekh Haim" (Haim's Road, but also "Way of Life") after the late Haim Landau, a former Israeli Minister of Transportation.

History

Works on ''Highway 5'' initially started in 1965, and its westmost section opened in 1967. Extension of he highway began to be built in 1985 and reached

Rosh HaAyin Rosh HaAyin (; ) is a city in the Central District of Israel. It is located in the eastern ravine of the Sharon River, opposite the Samaria Mountains. The city is named after its location at the source of the Yarkon River (“Ras” meaning sou ...

in 1987. it was serving mainly the densely populated

Gush Dan Gush Dan (, ) or Tel Aviv metropolitan area is a conurbation in Israel, located along the country's Mediterranean coastline. There is no single formal definition of Gush Dan, though the term is in frequent use by both governmental bodies and the ...

metropolitan area. During the 90's the road's junctions were upgraded to interchanges. In the West Bank, the main road was still the old Road 505, which, since the events of the

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in 2000, has been partially closed to

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transportation. In the beginning of the 1990s, with the growth of Ariel and the settlements around it, arose the need for a more modern and wider road, than the single-lane low-quality Road 505. Therefore, ''Highway 5'' was extended some to the east of the Green Line, ending almost within sight of Ariel and serving the largest block of the Israeli settlements in the northern West Bank, counting about 50,000 people, as well as the

Barkan Industrial Park The Barkan Industrial Park (, lit. Barkan Industrial Area) is located about 25 kilometres east of Tel Aviv in the West Bank. Its offices are located at the northern entrance. The industrial park is located adjacent to the Israeli settlement Bark ...

. At the time, this section of ''Highway 5'' was one of the biggest infrastructure projects that Israel had undertaken in the West Bank. As of 2017 the road terminates at a

roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...

at the Ariel junction where it merges into Road 505 which continues east past Ariel until Petza'el, which is located on Route 90, the north–south road parallel to the

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

border in the Jordan Valley. The western section of the highway consists of between 3 and 5 lanes in each direction, which reduces in number as the highway heads eastward. As of 2017, the westward section surrounding Gush Dan is one of the most congested in Israel.The Solution to Traffic Jams: Half a Road for Buses and Half for Rich People
TheMarker, 13 Sep 2016Millions of Commuters Stuck on the Roads: 10 Worst Traffic Jams in Israel: Route 5: An Hour and a Half From Rosh Hayin to Tel-Aviv
Haaretz, 22 May 2017 Highway 531, is a freeway which parallels Highway 5 and runs approximately to the north, was opened in 2017, and also contains a

rail system Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

. A toll fast lane project is planned along Highway 5.

Interchanges and Junctions (West to East)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:5 Limited-access roads in Israel Roads in Israel Roads in Israeli-occupied territories