Tunnel fighters call in international expert

A residents' committee spokesman said the expert had found that the proposed tunnel would actually cost less than building an open highway.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
The Herzliya and Ra'anana residents' committee fighting for the Highway 531 tunnel has presented its recommendations to the National Infrastructure Committee as ordered to do by the courts, reports the Hebrew weekly Ha'ir-Tzomet Hasharon. The residents' committee brought in an expert on tunnels from the US who provided two alternative proposals and cost estimates for building the tunnel, as well as suggesting internationally accepted safety measures, such as closed-circuit television cameras, escape hatches, fire-detection equipment and emergency lighting. A residents' committee spokesman said the expert had found that the proposed tunnel would actually cost less than building an open highway as planned by the National Roads Company. Highway 531 has been planned as a major artery running along the southern edge of Ra'anana and through Herzliya from Highway 6 in the east to Highway 2 on the coast, but residents have come out fighting against having it as an open road, saying it would massively increase noise and air pollution. Recently, the residents succeeded in persuading the courts that a tunnel should be considered, and the courts ordered the residents to come up with concrete proposals and the National Infrastructure Committee to consider them. The committee is expected to do so within the next few weeks.