[IL] Israeli Highways - כבישים מהירים

[Urban Legend]

Originally Posted by RoadUser

Hi all,

I took some photos on my way to work this morning. I´ve only just discovered this forum - before this I had no idea anyone would be interested!

Road 1

Approaching Aluf Sadeh Interchange:

why the sings in yellow?

[madao]

i like it that the route is also given in arabic
but why in some boards and in others not?

[Xpressway]

Israeli Highways look great!

3 languages signs, nice lighting and they met current highway standards.
I also read somewhere most of these great highways arent tolled at all.

I just hope you guys over there don't become way too car dependant because of those nice highways.

[Hebrewtext]

road no. 443

[TheCat]

Originally Posted by Urban Lagend

why the sings in yellow?

I think because these maybe are temporary signs (due to construction and such), but I'm joining the question, since I am not sure - why?

[RoadUser]

Originally Posted by Urban Lagend

why the sings in yellow?

Sorry for the delay in answering, I've been away for a couple of days.

The yellow signs usually carry information or warnings rather than directions. They can also carry directions that are not direct destinations of the next turn-off, i.e. "For Shoham follow signs to Petah Tikva" or whatever. The sign in the picture is of the latter type.

[RoadUser]

Originally Posted by madao

i like it that the route is also given in arabic
but why in some boards and in others not?

Since this issue came up I have been looking around and seeing if I can find some logic.

It appears that on almost all roads, the signs are in three languages, but at major junctions, where there are several signs repeating the same information, some of them are bilingual. However, all of the information is present in all three languages. There are occasionally signs in Hebrew and Arabic with no English.

Also I noticed that newer signs are more likely to have Arabic on than older ones.

I don't really know what the regulations are, or whether there is any connection between the proportion of Arabic speakers in an area and the presence of signs in Arabic. I have just come back from a couple of days' holiday in the north of the country, where there is a large population of Arabic speakers, and there is a lot of Arabic signage up there, but this is true for the rest of the country too.

I'll see if I can find out any more details.

[RoadUser]

Originally Posted by Skyyy

Israeli Highways look great!

3 languages signs, nice lighting and they met current highway standards.
I also read somewhere most of these great highways arent tolled at all.

I just hope you guys over there don't become way too car dependant because of those nice highways.

We already are too car-dependent.

However, serious money is being spent on expanding the previously-very-underused railways. A new line is opening at the end of next week from Modiin, where I live, via Ben-Gurion Airpost to Tel Aviv. As soon as that happens, I, for one, won't be driving to work anymore.

Let someone else do the driving . . .

[madao]

Originally Posted by RoadUser

Since this issue came up I have been looking around and seeing if I can find some logic.

It appears that on almost all roads, the signs are in three languages, but at major junctions, where there are several signs repeating the same information, some of them are bilingual. However, all of the information is present in all three languages. There are occasionally signs in Hebrew and Arabic with no English.

Also I noticed that newer signs are more likely to have Arabic on than older ones.

The Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv seems to be an exception - the signs seem to be in Hebrew and English only and I don't know the reason why this should be.

I don't really know what the regulations are, or whether there is any connection between the proportion of Arabic speakers in an area and the presence of signs in Arabic. I have just come back from a couple of days' holiday in the north of the country, where there is a large population of Arabic speakers, and there is a lot of Arabic signage up there, but this is true for the rest of the country too.

I'll see if I can find out any more details.

thank you very much roaduser i was long curious about the situation
i think on places were are no arabic signs there live no arabs or that israel dont want arabs in that place (not negativ) maybe for some reason

[RoadUser]

Originally Posted by madao

thank you very much roaduser i was long curious about the situation
i think on places were are no arabic signs there live no arabs or that israel dont want arabs in that place (not negativ) maybe for some reason

Hello,

I did some more research and I think I found the answer to the issue:

Following a court ruling at the beginning of this century, all intercity signs must be in Arabic. This is indeed the case - all junctions have Arabic signs, even if every sign is not in Arabic. It appears that if a sign does not have Arabic, then it is an old sign.

Contrary to what I wrote above (and subsequently erased) the Ayalon Highway DOES have Arabic signs, following the same court ruling. Older ones are Hebrew and English only, newer ones in Arabic too:



I will post more pictures later of signs with Arabic.

Inside towns, the ruling stipulated that towns with large Arab populations must have Arabic signs. The ruling mostly affected mixed towns such as Ramle, Lod (Lydda), and Tel Aviv. Jerusalem and Haifa have always had Arabic signs.

One other connected issue - apparently the new terminal at Ben Gurion Airport originally had no signs in Arabic. This was subsequently changed following protests.

Most of the above information comes from Wikipedia.

[RoadUser]

As promised, here are some more pictures of signs with Hebrew, Arabic and English. Note that the second one has only Hebrew and Arabic. There is an English sign at the junction too. It is not particularly easy to take photos with a mobile phone camera while you're driving, so please excuse the quality.

[madao]

Originally Posted by RoadUser

As promised, here are some more pictures of signs with Hebrew, Arabic and English. Note that the first one has only Hebrew and Arabic. There is an English sign at the junction too. It is not particularly easy to take photos with a mobile phone camera while you're driving, so please excuse the quality.

thank you thank you for youre answer

[Hebrewtext]

road no.2 - the coastal road

[ZOHAR]

yaaaaaaay I see my city Netanya

[Urban Legend]

one of the main roads in the north

[Urban Legend]

[Urban Legend]

some crazy guy decided that he is tired of life and stoped the traffic

[ChrisZwolle]

What a nuthead.

[Urban Legend]

[TheCat]

Drive from Ashkelon, a city on the Mediterranean Sea, to Arad, a town not too far from the Dead Sea. This shows the less major expressways and national 2-lane roads in Israel. I'm not sure about the exact roads that were taken in this trip, because there are several possibilities, and hence cannot provide route numbers. Perhaps a person who lives in Israel knows better. The 2-lane part is probably Road 31.

Expressway Part:













































































2-lane Road Part:























































































Hope you enjoyed Images courtesy of visualtravelguide.com.