Carmel tunnels
In an ironic twist, the tunnels though the Carmel mountains under the city of Haifa, that are now the longest tunnels in Israel, were opened while the Carmel forest blazed on top. As a consequence the event, when PM Netanyahu officially declared the pair of tunnels open, was hardly noticed. They will reduce the time taken to transit the city from about an hour to 8 mins. Drivers will avoid having to follow the coastline driving right thru the busy port area of Haifa (with 27 traffic lights), that has always been a nightmare. Also, the tunnels have an exit/entrance right in the middle of the City, so that many people wishing to enter Haifa will be able to avoid the traffic jams and this will reduce the amount of traffic within the city too.
It is estimated that the Carmel forest will take 40 years to recover from the terrible fires, although nature might make the recovery much quicker. But the tunnels will be with us forever and will make a signficant contribution to the modern traffic flow in Israel. The idea of digging tunnels thru the Carmel range under Haifa was first proposed by the British about 100 years ago. Then it was taken up by the Israeli State, but it has taken until now to bring the concept to reality. The company established to dig the tunnels decided to use the primitive means known as "drill and explode" rather than the much more modern method of using huge drilling machines. This was because the tunnels are not very long by international standards, only 5 km, and the drilling machines are too expensive. A Chinese company with experience in drilling tunnels was contracted, and did the whole project in 3 years with 550 workers working 24/7. The tunnels are privately owned and the toll of 11 NIS will be collected by the company for 30 years and then the tunnels will be handed over to the Government on the "use and transfer" basis. The entrances and exits were contructed by an Israeli company and the billing system is the same as that of Route 6, so that there are no toll booths.
At the same time that the fire fighting services in Israel were shown to be inadequate and obsolete (the PA fire fighters turned up with a modern up-to-date fire truck, donated by the EU), Israel has again taken a stride into the future with the Carmel tunnels.
It is estimated that the Carmel forest will take 40 years to recover from the terrible fires, although nature might make the recovery much quicker. But the tunnels will be with us forever and will make a signficant contribution to the modern traffic flow in Israel. The idea of digging tunnels thru the Carmel range under Haifa was first proposed by the British about 100 years ago. Then it was taken up by the Israeli State, but it has taken until now to bring the concept to reality. The company established to dig the tunnels decided to use the primitive means known as "drill and explode" rather than the much more modern method of using huge drilling machines. This was because the tunnels are not very long by international standards, only 5 km, and the drilling machines are too expensive. A Chinese company with experience in drilling tunnels was contracted, and did the whole project in 3 years with 550 workers working 24/7. The tunnels are privately owned and the toll of 11 NIS will be collected by the company for 30 years and then the tunnels will be handed over to the Government on the "use and transfer" basis. The entrances and exits were contructed by an Israeli company and the billing system is the same as that of Route 6, so that there are no toll booths.
At the same time that the fire fighting services in Israel were shown to be inadequate and obsolete (the PA fire fighters turned up with a modern up-to-date fire truck, donated by the EU), Israel has again taken a stride into the future with the Carmel tunnels.
posted by Jack Cohen at 8:25 AM
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