About the Carmel Tunnels
If you are from Haifa or live in the area, you are surely familiar with Highway 23, the well-known Carmel Tunnel Highway, which has existed since 2010. This involves two dual tunnels connecting the southern entrance to Haifa with the Checkpoint junction, tunnels that pass under the Carmel Ridge and have a permitted speed limit of up to 80 km/h.
The length of Highway 23 (each side of the highway) is 6.5 kilometers, with 4.7 kilometers of the highway being within the tunnels.
The history of the highway
There have always been traffic problems in the city’s lower areas and on the roads leading to Haifa Port. The idea for this highway and the tunnels under the Carmel was first proposed during the British Mandate and again in the mid-1960s. The next time the idea surfaced was in the 1980s, but even then it did not progress. When it was presented to Amram Misna, who was the mayor of Haifa in the early 1990s, he finally began to develop it. The work itself began in 2007, and in 2009, the excavation of the first tunnel from the Checkpoint to the Ropin Interchange in Nahal Shanan was completed. The tunnels were dug from both sides, with an Israeli company on one side and a Chinese company on the other. When they met, a controlled explosion took place, removing the final barrier. One by one, the excavation of each of the four tunnels (two single-lane tunnels on one side and two single-lane tunnels on the other side) was completed. In late November, a ceremony was held in the presence of the Prime Minister to open the highway.
Advantages of the highway
Highway 23 is primarily a highway that bypasses the center of Haifa, which saves a lot of traffic jams and delays. In addition, the entrance to the western tunnel is near the Convention Center, so it provides access from the Carmel Coast plain (Highway 4) and Highway 2. The eastern tunnel continues to the Checkpoint, with the western entrance in Nahal Shanan at the Ropin Interchange. Since the end of 2014, there has also been a direct connection from the tunnels directly to Highway 22.
There is no doubt that the Carmel Tunnels and Highway 22 have changed the transportation map of Haifa. They have made it more convenient and simpler, and although it is a toll road, it is heavily used.