Big Dig
Debut finally in sight for first stage
of Jerusalem's light-rail network.
Amihai Zippor
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jerusalem
W
hen Israel launched its
effort in the 1990s to
install the country's first
light-rail system in Jerusalem, it was to
be the impetus for a broader revitaliza-
tion effort aimed at replacing Turkish-
era infrastructure, easing congestion
and cleaning up pollution in the capital
city.
It also was supposed to be a model
for other proposed light-rail systems in
the country, such as Tel Aviv.
But building errors, bureaucratic
delays and poor management have
clouded the vision of Jerusalem as a
model for a cleaner, more user-friendly
transportation system.
Seven years after a consortium called
CityPass won the contract to build the
system, the tracks still aren't finished
and costs have soared. The city's main
downtown artery, Jaffa Street, is virtu-
ally shut down, and area shopkeepers
say the construction has hurt their
businesses as residents and tourists
have steered clear of the area.
But with the project about a year
away from becoming operational,
Jerusalem's residents finally are on the
verge of reaping the benefits from what
for the last couple of years has been a
major disruption.
"It affects our business consider-
ably," Barry Sibul of the Village Green
restaurant said of the construction. "It's
very hard to get here the walkways are
hard to walk on and uncomfortable to
negotiate, and there's a lot of noise and
a lot of dirt:'
Jerusalem's municipality provides
aid to local businesses, including loans
of up to $35,000. Some shopkeepers
have complained that a cumbersome
approval process has made the loans
difficult to get.
Shmuel Elgrabli, a government
spokesman for the light-rail project,
said the temporary disruption on Jaffa
Street will pay off in the long run. He
also noted that the project includes
invaluable updates to all water, electric-
ity and communication lines in down-
town Jerusalem.
"Before we started the project, all
of Jaffa Street, which cuts through the
center of town, was filled with buses
like a train from one end to the other.
The city was a mess," Elgrabli said.
"Everything we are trying to do is the
solution, not the problem."
Most Jerusalemites, he said, "want to
see a renewed city, a city like in Europe,
where all of Jaffa Street will be pedes-
trian. Places like Strasburg and Paris
are examples of how new transporta-
tion systems sparked urban renewal."
Line 1 of the light rail system — the
red line — is slated to run from the
Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood in north-
east Jerusalem through the center of
town, then southwest to Mount Herzl.
Government surveys taken prior to
the construction showed that about
400,000 people would be served by the
route.
With 12 of the 18 miles of track laid
and four of 24 stations built, Jerusalem
already has planned extensions to the
neighborhood of Neve Ya'akov and
Hadassah Hospital at Ein Karem.
Jerusalem's master plan proposes a
total of five lines, but aside from the
red line only one other — the blue
— has been approved for work. The
roadwork on the blue route has been
completed, but its conversion to light
rail is dependent on future usage,
which is expected to rise in the next
few years. The line would run from
Hebron Road in southern Jerusalem to
Ramot in northern Jerusalem.
This stage of the project will cost
more than $1 billion, according to gov-
ernment estimates. A recent report by
state Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss
found government spending 160
percent above the original forecasted
budget.
Originally supposed to be com-
pleted by January 2009, as of now
the first trains are expected to run in
September 2010.
But with CityPass asking for a nine-
month extension, which the city thus
far has refused to grant, many busi-
nesses in the affected areas are having
trouble seeing light at the end of the
tunnel.
"We know we have to be patient, and
eventually it's going to be cleaned up
and look very pretty," Sibul said, "but
I'm not sure it's going to bring that
many more people." LI
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