About the Carmel Tunnels
Haifa becomes the first city in Israel with “clean air zone”
Light truck traffic will be routed to the Carmel tunnels.
Haifa Bay – from now on, not only talking
The Ministry of Environmental Protection recently announced that in the next five years, approximately NIS 300 million will be invested in improving the air quality in Haifa Bay, increasing supervision and enforcement, reducing risks to the population, monitoring pollutants, conducting health studies and making information accessible to the public. All this as part of the national plan to reduce air pollution and environmental risks in Haifa Bay.
Interministerial programme with news for drivers
As part of the plan, the municipality of Haifa will block the entry of heavy trucks into the city during peak hours for the first time and their traffic will be routed to travel through the port of Haifa or through the Carmel tunnels, at the same time as the reduction of fares for light trucks, subscribers in the Carmel tunnels will decrease by 40%.
The program, in collaboration with the Ministries of Transportation, Finance and Health, the Municipality of Haifa and the Association of Cities for Environmental Protection Haifa Bay, is expected to lead to a 50% reduction in air pollution in Haifa Bay and includes integrative activity with all sources of pollution: large and small factories, refineries, vehicles, vessels and filling stations. For the first time in Israel, “clean air zone” will be established in Haifa, according to a model successfully implemented in 200 cities around the world.
Reducing emission and pollution with emphasis on trucks and buses
As part of the programme, public transport fleets have received provisions to reduce air pollution and to use clean alternative means of propulsion. In addition, in most gas stations in the Gulf, the installation of dedicated systems to reduce fuel vapor emissions has been completed. At the same time, the monitoring and sampling system for air quality will be improved, the number of regularly monitored air pollutants will be increased, monitoring devices will be added to measure carcinogenic pollutants such as benzene and tiny and breathable soot particles, and the retirement of monitoring stations in the Haifa Bay area will be improved.
In the Carmel tunnels they join the revolution!
One of the main steps in the plan is to encourage truck traffic in the Carmel tunnels, instead of on open urban routes. Therefore, the Ministries of Environmental Protection, Finance, Transportation and the company “Carmelton”, the Carmel Tunnels franchise, decided to grant a benefit of 40% discount on the fare for subscription trucks, weighing up to 12 tons. The benefit will be given to subscription trucks during all hours of the day starting from 1.1.2016 and for the next five years. The new fare for the section decreased from NIS 43.10 to NIS 25.86. The benefit is for trucks up to 12 tons that are pre-registered as subscribers to the project. And registration as a project subscriber does not involve a cost, fixed usage fee or any other obligation.
Encouraging truck travel in the Carmel tunnels will benefit transportation companies and drivers, saving time, fuel and using trucks more efficiently, and will also benefit the city and its residents in diverting truck traffic from the busy urban routes, and in reducing pollutant emissions, in light of the savings in fuel and engine operation.
It is easier to reduce pollution – for heavy vehicle drivers
Details of the savings in time and fuel for the truck in the Carmel tunnels, starting January 1, 2016.
*The data are part of a study that compares the trip in the Carmel tunnels against the trip on parallel routes – details here
*For more details on the national action plan for the Haifa Bay area, on the website of the Ministry of the Environment – click here