A real alternative to the car? The new bike paths in Gush Dan

On a typical morning in Gush Dan, the road to Tel Aviv looks like a competition of who is stuck more: cars are standing, buses are crawling, and trains are crowded. But there are also those who choose to bypass the traffic on two wheels. For them, the road will soon become safer and easier.

For years, the Ministry of Transport has understood that bike paths are no longer a curiosity for sports enthusiasts, but a necessary component of every new infrastructure project. The separated paths are already planned in advance along the routes of the Blue Line and the Brown Line of the Metronit that are under construction, alongside the light rail tracks, future metro lines, and public transport lanes.

Now, after seven years of work, the "Ofnidan" project is completing a continuous metropolitan network that connects the cities of Gush Dan to Tel Aviv and turns bicycles and scooters into a real alternative to the car. The latest swallow in this network is the opening of a new section of the coastal path about two kilometers long, which completed a continuous riding sequence of 6.9 km from Herzliya to Rokach Street in Tel Aviv. This connection allows for continuous travel from the employment area in Herzliya Pituach to Yarkon Park. In total, about 9.5 km are currently open on the coastal path, connecting major employment centers, high-tech companies, and academic institutions such as Tel Aviv University and Reichman University.

Separation from the roads: "More people are choosing to leave the car at home"

On a metropolitan level, the "Ofnidan" project is planned to include seven main paths with a total length of about 100 km together with existing paths, which will pass through 14 local authorities. Due to the wide deployment of the project, it is carried out by quite a few authorities, including Ayalon Highways, NTA, Netivei Israel, Ganei Yehoshua, and the municipalities of Tel Aviv, Herzliya, Ramat HaSharon, Holon, and other authorities. The goal is to create a network that flows riders from the peripheral ring to the center.

Among other things, the Sharon path currently connects Ramat HaSharon, Kfar Hayarok, and the Hamishtala neighborhood in Tel Aviv, with its existing length standing at 1.61 km in a sequence. The Yarkon path offers a sequence of 4.63 km and connects the Ayalon Mall and the Bursa complex in Ramat Gan to the Savidor-Center station. From the direction of Petah Tikva and Givat Shmuel comes the Sadeh path, where 7.04 km are open along the 471 axis. In the south of the metropolis, 2.1 km are open on the Ariel path and 6.75 km on the Holot path, which connect the industrial zones and neighborhoods in Rishon LeZion and Holon to Tel Aviv.

"For trips of up to five kilometers, a bicycle is a perfect solution. People choose a bicycle when they feel it is a convenient, safe, and fast option," explains Lior Ahali, head of the Projects G Division in the Engineering Division of Ayalon Highways. "Establishing dedicated infrastructure includes physical separation between riders, pedestrians, and vehicles. As the network becomes more continuous, more people choose to leave the car at home, and we are already seeing this trend in the sections that have opened." According to him, "The main challenge was to establish a continuous network of bike paths in the heart of the most crowded metropolis in Israel, while maintaining the routine of life."

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And indeed, these were challenging years of execution. Eyal Santo, from the company UMo - Urban Mobility, who has been involved in connecting people, cities, and bicycles for over 18 years, explains that "'Ofnidan' offers wide paths, excellent night lighting, and good shading, but there are still critical holes in this network. On the coastal path, the section from Glilot to JNF is missing, and on the Ayalon path, one is forced to bypass through Bat Yam. The gap in budgets is also infuriating. 'Ofnidan' is estimated at about 620 million shekels and has not yet been completed, 11 years since the initial planning. In contrast, in the fast lanes project with giant parking lots, they invested about 8 billion shekels and built a monstrous interchange within nine years. When it comes to cars, they know how to bend everyone, but with bicycles, suddenly it's impossible."

Santo, a veteran rider from Ra'anana, covers the paths every week. According to him, "The new infrastructure provides an excellent, safe, and shaded solution for those who are already riding today, but the paths alone will not move drivers from the car to the two-wheeler. The 'build it and they will come' concept doesn't work - you must invest in changing behavior: financially incentivize employees to leave the car at home, grant tax credits, and provide showers and secure parking at workplaces. Otherwise, drivers will remain in traffic."

The struggles - and the limitations: "Residents opposed"

Behind this utopia of a network of paths connecting the cities of Gush Dan to Tel Aviv for wheel riders, there are not simple struggles on the ground. During the execution of the project, the Ayalon Highways company was required to stand against local authorities and residents for every meter: from canceling parking spaces and narrowing sidewalks, to clearing public areas that residents had annexed over the years to their private yards, and to environmental constraints such as preserving old trees that it was decided not to cut down.

"Paving more than 100 km of high-quality paths takes a toll in the form of lanes, capacity at intersections, and sometimes also parking. The delays in execution stem mainly from residents' objections, political conflicts, and mayors who hesitate to pay an immediate price for a distant vision," explains Meital Lehavi, Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo for Transportation and Road Safety.

In some cases, these struggles were crowned with success and the path was completed as a safe sequence, but in some sections, the company had to come to terms with the built reality. As Ahali from Ayalon Highways explains: "The goal was and will remain to create a network as continuous as possible, but during planning and execution, it turned out that in a number of points there are physical limitations that cannot be overcome. Alongside delays from coordination procedures, the coronavirus, and the war, there are places where there is simply no engineering possibility to pave a path," he says. "For example, in the area of Namir Road and Pinkas, the sidewalk is very narrow, and there is no possibility to widen it or subtract from the travel lanes." In such cases, they understood at Ayalon Highways that giving up on continuity at a specific point is the most reasonable solution, as the alternative would be that there would be no bike path in the entire area.

Lehavi concluded: "Over time, more municipalities will understand that this is a solution and not a problem. Tel Aviv-Yafo, with 200,000 rides a day, is the proof that vision and determination create a new reality." The network of paths is expected to spread and expand through the 'Accelerator' project, which will create a complementary shell of paths and connectivity between the cities. Beyond the infrastructure response, the separated path gives riders something that public transport cannot give - complete independence and non-dependence on bus or train schedules. In addition, the fact that the network is managed and planned by a government company, and not by each authority separately, ensures continuity with almost no 'holes' at the municipal borders on the way to a comfortable and safe ride within the congested Gush Dan.