Route 417 (Israel–Palestine)

Route 417
Route 417
כביש 417
Route information
Length	16 km (9.9 mi)
Major junctions
West end	Junction at Weizmann Blvd;
East end	Adumim Interchange;
Location
Country	Israel
Major cities	Jerusalem (Givat Shaul, Romema, Shikun Chabad, Tel Arza, Bukharim, Mahanayim, Sanhedriya, Shmuel HaNavi, Sanhedriya, Ramat Eshkol, Ma'alot Dafna, Givat HaMivtar, Givat HaTahmoshet, Kiryat Menachem Begin, HaGiv'a HaTzarfatit, Har HaTsofim, Wadi al-Joz, Old City, al-Sawaneh, Har HaZeitim, Ras al-Amud, Ma'ale ha-Zeitim and Wadi Qadum) neighborhoods; Abu Dis; al-Eizariya; Jahalin; Kedar; Ma'ale Adumim;
Highway system
	Roads in Israel; Highways;

Route 417 (Hebrew: כביש 417, "Kvish Arba'-Achat-Sheva'") is an intercity road in Israel and the West Bank that stretches from the west side of Jerusalem to Ma'ale Adumim and Highway 1 east to the Jordan Valley.

History

Most of the road serves as a local thoroughfare within Jerusalem and East Jerusalem. The road has been non-contiguous since the construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier through Abu Dis in 2006.^[1] Route 417 used to be the main route from the west to the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea, bypassing downtown Jerusalem. With the opening of Jerusalem Road 9 (Yitzhak Shamir Road and Yigal Yadin Interchange [he]) and the Ma'ale Adumim Road, the historic route lost that distinction. With the closure of the road in Abu Dis, the route no longer serves that option at all.

Route

The route's name changes many times along the way. From west to east:

Yirmiyahu Street

Named after the biblical prophet,^[2] the route begins at Weizmann Boulevard at the base of the Strings Bridge, an area known historically as the western "Jerusalem Gate", the main entrance to the city from the west. It passes the beginning of Jaffa Road near the Jerusalem Central Bus Station and the headquarters of Magen David Adom. It then winds through the Romema neighborhood as a commercial and light-industrial four-lane divided boulevard.

Early morning traffic-free view of Bar-Ilan Street

Bar-Ilan Street

Just past the Shikun Chabad neighborhood, the well-known Bar-Ilan St. named after Rabbi Meir Berlin, passes between the Haredi neighborhoods of Tel Arza, Mahanayim and Bukharim. Here the road serves as a major shopping street. In many sections, fencing exists on the median divider to prevent pedestrians from crossing between controlled intersections on this heavily congested section. Before 1955, this was called "The Ring Road", skirting around the northern edge of what was then the built-up area of central Jerusalem.^[2]

Hativat HarEl Street

Named after the famous Harel Brigade,^[2] this 0.3 km section widens into a 6-lane divided boulevard between the Sanhedria and Shmuel HaNavi neighborhoods.

Levi Eshkol Boulevard

This section, built in 1968, was named after Israel's third prime minister.^[2] The route continues past the Ma'alot Dafna, Ramat Eshkol and Givat HaMivtar neighborhoods. Just short of Haim Bar-Lev Boulevard (Highway 60), also known as Jerusalem Road 1, a 0.2 km tunnel provides an alternate route bypassing the congested traffic-light controlled intersection which includes a crossing of the Jerusalem Light Rail tracks.

Hebrew University Boulevard

This 0.6 km stretch passes Kiryat Menachem Begin, the Dan Jerusalem Hotel (formerly the Hyatt Regency) and the main entrance road to the Hebrew University's Har HaTsofim campus.

Wadi al-Joz Street

While most traffic continues straight through the new Har HaTzofim tunnels bypassing East Jerusalem's built-up areas and connecting to Highway 1 to Ma'ale Adumim and the Dead Sea, the official Route 417 makes a right turn southward onto Wadi al-Joz St. Here, in the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood, named after the "Walnut Valley",^[2] the street serves as a main commercial artery. This section of the road contains many auto-repair shops giving it the nickname among Hebrew speakers of 'Wadi Egzōz' (i.e., exhaust).

al-Maqdesi Street

Continuing southward as a commercial street, this 0.4 km stretch, named after the famous 10th-century Arab geographer,^[2] passes the Failey Center for the Arts and the Rockefeller Museum as it approaches the northeast corner of Jerusalem's Old City.

Jericho Road in the Kidron Valley,
traditional site of Gethsemane with
Church of All Nations (center) and
Church of Maria Magdalene (upper right)

Jericho Road

Along the eastern edge of the Old City, the now named Jericho Road descends into the Kidron Valley, also known by its biblical name, the Valley of Josaphat.^[3] The valley is the site of many tombs: the Tomb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Pillar of Absalom, the Tomb of Benei Hezir, the Tomb of Zechariah, the tomb of Josaphat and the tomb of Saint James.

The road then runs along the bottom of the Mount of Olives and continues through the Ras al-Amud, Ma'ale ha-Zeitim and Wadi Qadum neighborhoods as a commercial street.

At ash-Shiyah Street at the edge of Abu Dis, the Israeli West Bank barrier has been erected. Originally including a security checkpoint, the road was permanently closed in 2006. Past the barrier, the road continues as a commercial artery through Abu Dis, al-Eizariya and Jahalin.

As it passes Ma'ale Adumim, the route becomes a freeway, finally merging into Highway 1 to the Jordan Valley.

Junctions (west to east)

km	Location	Name	Meaning	Road(s) Crossed
↓Jerusalem Municipality↓
Yirmiyahu Street
0	Romema			Weizmann Blvd. Strings Bridge
0.05	Romema			Jaffa Road
0.1	Romema			Ha Mem Gimel St.
0.2	Romema			Aholiab St.,^[4] HaTvi St.
0.3	Romema			HaRikma St.^[5]
0.4	Romema			HaRikma St.
0.5	Romema			Tuval St.^[6] HaTchelet St.
0.6	Romema			HaTchelet St.
0.7	Romema			Argaman St.^[7]
1	Romema			Tuval St.
1.1	Romema			Shamgar St.^[8]
1.2	Romema	ככר לוין (Rabbi Levin Square)	named after Rabbi Pinhas Ya'akov HaCohen Levin	Minhat Yitzhak St.
1.6	Shikun Chabad	ככר הרב עזריאל זעליג סלונים (Rabbi Azriel Zelig Slonim Square)	named after Rabbi Avriel Zelig Slonim	Elkana St.^[9]
1.7	Tel Arza, Bukharim	ככר הרב אברמסקי (Rabbi Abramsky Square)	named after Rabbi Yehezkel Abramsky	Eli HaCohen St.^[10] Tsfanya St.
Bar-Ilan Street
1.73	Tel Arza, Bukharim	eastbound only		Issa Bracha St.
1.76	Tel Arza, Bukharim			Yosef Ziv St., HaBucharim St.
1.82	Tel Arza, Bukharim			Adoniyahu HaCohen St.
1.87	Mahanayim, Bukharim			Hacham Shmuel Bruchim St., Ki Tov St.
1.89	Mahanayim, Bukharim			Rabeinu Gershom St.
1.93	Mahanayim, Bukharim	westbound only		HaGaon MiTurda St.
1.96	Mahanayim, Bukharim			Ohalei Yosef St., Evyatar HaCohen St.^[11]
2.08	Mahanayim, Bukharim	eastbound only		Avinadav St.^[12]
2.2	Mahanayim, Bukharim, Sanhedriya, Shmuel HaNavi	ככר בית החיים (Beit HaHayyim Square)	House of Life (name of adjacent municipal Funeral Home)	Route 436 (Shmuel HaNavi St.)^[13]
Hativat HarEl Street
2.4	Sanhedriya, Shmuel HaNavi			Etz Hadar St.
2.6	Sanhedriya, Shmuel HaNavi			Eretz Hefetz St.
Levi Eshkol Boulevard
2.65	Ramat Eshkol, Ma'alot Dafna	westbound only		Mikvei Yisrael St.
2.7	Ramat Eshkol, Ma'alot Dafna			Mismar HaGvul St.
2.8	Green Line
2.9	Ramat Eshkol, Ma'alot Dafna			Ma'avar HaMitla St., Ya'akov (Carl) Netter St.
3.5	Ramat Eshkol, Givat HaMivtar			Sheshet HaYammim St.
3.6	Givat HaMivtar, Givat HaTahmoshet, Kiryat Menachem Begin, HaGiv'a HaTzarfatit	ככר מיינרצהאגן (Meinertzhagen Square)	named after Richard Meinertzhagen	Highway 60 (Haim Bar-Lev Blvd.) Jerusalem Light Rail Station
Hebrew University Blvd.
4.1	Kiryat Menachem Begin, Har HaTsofim			Aharon Katzir St.
4.2	Wadi al-Joz, Har HaTsofim			Shayeret HaTzofim Blvd., Yitzhak HaNadiv St. (to Har HaTsofim Tunnels)
Wadi Al-Joz Street
4.3	Wadi Al-Joz			Beni Ummayya St.
4.5	Wadi Al-Joz			Abu Bakir as-Sideeq St.
4.8	Wadi Al-Joz			Ibn Tulun St.
4.9	Wadi Al-Joz			Uthman ibn Affan St.
5	Wadi Al-Joz			Khalid ibn al-Walid St.
5.1	Wadi al-Joz			Al-Maqdesi Street St.
Al-Maqdesi Street
5.2	Wadi al-Joz			Abu Hanifa St.
5.3	Wadi al-Joz			Akhwan as-Saffa St.
5.5	Wadi al-Joz			Al-Akhtal St.
5.6	Old City Wadi al-Joz Al-Sawaneh			Sultan Suleiman St., Samaw'al ibn 'Adiya St. (At-Tur Road)
Jericho Road
6.4	Old City			Lions' Gate Road
6.5	Old City			Ophel Road
6.6	Har HaZeitim			al-Mansuriya St.
7.2	Ras al-Amud Ma'ale ha-Zeitim Har HaZeitim			Panorama St
7.3	Ras al-Amud Ma'ale ha-Zeitim			Ma'ale ha-Zeitim St
7.5	Har HaZeitim			local street
7.7	Ras al-Amud Wadi Qadum	pedestrians only		Ras al-Amud St al-Sahel al-Akhdar St
7.8	Wadi Qadum			al-Ansar St Nazalat Abu-Suwaiy St
8.2	ash-Sheikh Wadi Qadum			Wadi Abdallah St.
8.25	ash-Sheikh Wadi Qadum			al-Wafaa' St
8.75	ash-Sheikh Wadi Qadum			local street
9	ash-Sheikh Wadi Qadum Abu Dis	Ras al-Qubsa Square		ash-Sheikh St. Ras al-Qubsa St.
↑Jerusalem Municipality↑
↓NO eastbound through-traffic↓
9	Abu Dis Security Checkpoint (closed)
↑NO westbound through-traffic↑
9.5	Abu Dis			12 local streets
10.3	Abu Dis, al-Eizariya			local street
10.9	al-Eizariya			19 local streets
12.2	Jahalin			5 local streets
12.5	Jahalin			local street
12.6	Jahalin			2 local streets
↑NO westbound through-traffic for yellow (Israeli) license plates↑
13.7	Kedar			Kedar Road
13.8	Ma'ale Adumim	צומת מעלה אדומים (Ma'ale Adumim Junction)		Derech Har HaBayit
16	Ma'ale Adumim	מחלף אדומים (Adumim Interchange)	Red (Ascent)	Highway 1