Good news for Bet Shemesh residents. We all know how the main entrance to the city is a real disaster. The traffic just sits there coming into the city. The first section of road is 2 lanes on each side, but coming into the city it merges to one lane at the traffic circle above the entrance to the train station and the BIG mall creating a serious bottleneck. At most times of the day, especially around rush hour times, that road is a disaster.
It is bad coming into the city, it is bad coming out of or going to BIG, it is bad coming out of and going to the train station.
According to Ladaat, the Ministry of Transportation has just approved setting up a bus depot in the plot of land behind the BIG mall. The article says the train station parking lot will be redesigned and converted into a modern bus depot, with all the amenities needed for the drivers in between routes, while the parking lot will be moved westward (I assume this means behind the plot on which the new BIG mall is being built).
I hope that they plan on building a much larger plot than the one that currently exists that holds a fraction of the cars that need to park there.
In addition, the main road entering the city will be upgraded at a cost of 10 million NIS. the road will be expanded to 4 lanes for the entire length (through the industrial zone as well or only up until the industrial zone?) and the entrance to the BIG and train area will be redesigned so as not to cause traffic slowdowns.
Great news.
They still need to convert the section of road of Highway 38 where the train crosses, right by the entrance of Bet Shemesh, to an overpass in order to solve a lot of the traffic and safety problems on Highway 38. At least this is a start. Now get to work!
There is a lot of building work going on now in and around Beit Shemesh:
ReplyDelete* The route 10 bridge
* Widening route 10
* Building on the Elite factory site
* Building on the Big mall site (aka. the Amcor factory site - now that's ancient history...)
* The parking lot in the Merkaz and below it on Ben Zvi.
* Next to Beit Habad on Ben Zvi.
* Next to the Iriya.
* The ridiculously incongruous mall in Migdal HaMayim.
Whatever we may tink of the mayor (or I do anyway) there is a lot going on right now that has been stuck for years. What isn't happening yet are the Merkaz Yom for Melabev and the new building for the Conservatory - just to name two projects that are stuck for political reasons that I can think of.
Isn't the new Big to the east of the current parking lot, not the west? if they move the train station parking lot to the west as reported, it will be still further from the station than it is now.
ReplyDeletecould be. i just assumed their directions were the way that made sense. it might be the opposite as you say. I am not great with directions in hilly areas and I didnt bother checking the map
ReplyDelete