2,000 New Apartments in Jerusalem: Begin Road Covering Plan Approved for Deposit

Estimated to run along 1.7 kilometers, the plan also includes 25 thousand square meters for commerce and employment, 300 hotel rooms and 75 thousand square meters of public space. The covering will stretch between the Bate Interchange and the Wolfson Bridge and will connect the Beit HaKerem neighborhood with the Givat Ram campus in Jerusalem.

The District Committee for Planning and Building of the Jerusalem District, chaired by Shira Ptolomeo-Babai, decided today (Monday) to approve for deposit the plan to cover Begin Road in Jerusalem. The plan proposes covering the capital's main highway for about 1,700 meters between the Bate Interchange and the Wolfson Bridge, creating a new urban district and, at the same time, a physical connection between the Beit HaKerem neighborhood and the Givat Ram campus, which are currently separated by Menachem Begin Road.

The plan, which spans about 215 dunams, includes, among other things, the construction of about 2,000 housing units, 250 sheltered housing units, about 300 hotel rooms, about 15,000 square meters of employment areas, about 10,500 square meters of commercial areas, about 75,000 square meters for public areas and about 70 dunams of open space. The plan was initiated by the Jerusalem Development Authority and prepared by the firm Kolker Kolker Epstein Architects.

The planning director said that following the district committee's discussion of the plan on October 9, 2023, the committee decided to raise the five towers in the northern part of the plan area from 40 floors to 45 floors. "In addition, the committee set guidelines to ensure environmental quality in line with the comments of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Health, in order to minimize the impact of the construction work and to ensure the plan's significant contribution to its surroundings by covering the road and establishing open areas within the plan area and its surroundings." It was also reported that the plan offers a new elevated road system that will serve the new complexes and will connect to the municipal road system.