Route 411 (Israel) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Route 411 is a regional road in the Shephelah

Shephelah

The Shephelah is a designation usually applied to the region in south-central Israel of 10-15 km of low hills between the central Mount Hebron and the coastal plains of Philistia within the area of the Judea, at an altitude of 120-450 metres above sea level. The area is fertile, and a temperate...

region in Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. It is currently 13 km long with two open sections without any direct connection between them. The western section connects Highway 42

Highway 42 (Israel)

Highway 42 is a north-south highway in central Israel. It leads from Ashdod interchange in the south to Gan Rave interchange in the north. The road is 19 km long.-Junctions and interchanges on the route:...

with Route 410 near Kfar Gevirol in western Rehovot

Rehovot

Rehovot is a city in the Center District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 112,700. Rehovot's official website estimates the population at 114,000.Rehovot was built on the site of Doron,...

. The eastern section connects Highway 40

Highway 40 (Israel)

Highway 40 is a north-south intercity road in Israel. At 302 km long, it is the second longest highway in Israel, after Highway 90. The highway runs from Kfar Sava in the center of Israel to the Arabah in the south, serving as a main connection between central Israel and Be'er Sheva.-Route...

south of Rehovot

Rehovot

with Highway 3

Highway 3 (Israel)

Highway 3 is a highway in Israel. It begins at Beit Horon junction with Highway 443 near Modi'in, it passes through Kiryat Malakhi, and it ends a junction with Highway 4 on the outskirts of Ashkelon.- Plan for the future :...

towards Jerusalem, bypassing the towns of Kiryat Ekron

Kiryat Ekron

Kiryat Ekron or Qiryath Eqron is an Israeli town located on the coastal plain in the Central Region of Israel. Kiryat Ekron is named after the biblical Ekron, a major Philistine city that once existed at nearby Tel Mikne....

and Mazkeret Batya

Mazkeret Batya

Mazkeret Batya is a town in the center of Israel located southeast of Rehovot and from Tel-Aviv. Mazkeret Batya spans an area of 7,440 dunams . In December 2008, it had a population of 9,900. The mayor of Mazkeret Batya is Meir Dahan.-History:Mazkeret Batya was established on November 7, 1883 by...

Route description

The western section of the road starts at Rehovot Ma'arav Junction with Highway 42. It then runs south-east for approximately 2 km until it terminates in a newly built elevated junction with Route 410 above the Lod

Lod

Lod is a city located on the Sharon Plain southeast of Tel Aviv in the Center District of Israel. At the end of 2010, it had a population of 70,000, roughly 75 percent Jewish and 25 percent Arab.The name is derived from the Biblical city of Lod...

- Ashkelon

Ashkelon

Ashkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age...

Railway.

At this point there is a 4.5 km gap in the road, and motorists must travel through Rehovot to reach the eastern section.

The eastern section starts at Ekron Junction with Highway 40

Highway 40 (Israel)

, continuing local Road 4123 from Rehovot

Rehovot

. It then runs south, with two junctions and a roundabout

Roundabout

A roundabout is the name for a road junction in which traffic moves in one direction around a central island. The word dates from the early 20th century. Roundabouts are common in many countries around the world...

providing access to a major outdoor shopping center, Bilu Center. This section is undivided, with one lane in each direction and is often congested, especially during weekends and holidays.

The road then turns south-east, turning into a dual-carriageway for approximately 2 km while bypassing Kiryat Ekron

Kiryat Ekron

and Mazkeret Batya

Mazkeret Batya

.

Halfway across the bypass of Mazkeret Batya, the road is once again downgraded to a single-carriageway. It then reaches an at-grade crossing of the Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

- Be'er Sheva Railway, a bridge over Highway 6

Highway 6 (Israel)

Highway 6 , widely known as the Trans-Israel Highway or Cross-Israel Highway , is a major electronic toll highway in Israel. The highway was officially dedicated as the Yitzhak Rabin Highway , though this name is not commonly used. It started operating in the early 2000s and is being lengthened as...

and an underpass under the Tel Aviv - Jerusalem Railway. Further east the road becomes more winding in nature until reaching its terminus at Hulda Junction with Highway 3

Highway 3 (Israel)

History

The bypass of Mazkeret Batya and Kiryat Ekron was originally built in the 1960s and was only slightly improved until 2000, when the National Roads Authority began a project to upgrade this section to dual-carriageway standards. These works included the construction of the temporary roundabout at Bilu Center, however they were stopped two years later due to lack of funds, leaving the road in its poor current state. The only section completed as a dual-carriageway is between Beit Elazari

Beit Elazari

Beit Elazari is a moshav in central Israel. Located three miles south of the city of Rehovot, it falls under the jurisdiction of Brenner Regional Council. In 2008 it had a population of 1,200....

and Mazkeret Batya. Traffic lights were added to two of the junctions on this section in 2007.

The bridge over Highway 6 was built in 2002 by Derech Eretz, the Highway 6 operator. The underpass under the Tel Aviv - Jerusalem Railway opened in February 2009

The western section was partially opened between Highway 42 and Kfar Gevirol, without the connection to Route 410, on August 18, 2008. It was built as part of a major project to build a grade separation between Route 410 and the Lod - Ashkelon Railway, replacing a dangerous at-grade crossing. The bridge above the railway as well as the junction with Route 410 opened on February 28, 2009.

Future plans

There are plans to complete the missing 4.5 km long central section as a western bypass of Rehovot. The National Roads Company of Israel

National Roads Company of Israel

The National Roads Company of Israel , also called National Roads Authority, is a government-owned corporation, in charge of planning, construction and maintenance of most road infrastructure in Israel, including roads, bridges and interchanges....

is expecteing to publish tenders by the end of 2011 to complete this section. In the meantime, the city of Rehovot is building an inner bypass which can serve as a temporary connection between the two sections.

Plans to build an interchange with Highway 6 were approved, and as of early 2009, Derech Eretz was seeking government funding for such a connection.

There are also plans to upgrade all of Route 411 to dual-carriageway, including a grade separation that is under construction in 2011-2012 with the Railway to Beersheba

Railway to Beersheba

The Railway to Beersheba is the common name for the railroad which currently stretches from central Israel to the Zin Factories in southern Israel, with spurs to the Be'er Sheva Center Railway Station, Ramat Hovav and the Arad phosphate mines and factories in Tzefa...

and a new bridge to replace the dangerous curve over Shaham Stream

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.