"The road will endanger lives, damage nature and burden the neighborhood" • Residents against the Haifa Municipality plan

(haipo) - In recent years, the municipality of Haifa has been promoting the construction of roads that will allow additional exits from the neighborhoods in prisons in the city (neighborhoods with only one exit). Among the roads to be paved, the municipality announced its intention to open to traffic a road from the Savioni Dania neighborhood (Orland Street) to the Ramat Alon neighborhood, which will be another exit from the Savioni Dania neighborhood, from which there is currently only one exit.

The planned route passes, most of it as a whole, in the Ramat Alon forest. Today the road is partly paved, while the other part has not yet been broken. The actual need for an additional exit road arose as part of the lessons learned from the fire that occurred in Haifa in November 2016, in which the need for a double exit for emergencies became clear, in which many residents would be required to evacuate as quickly as possible. In addition, the road should provide an answer to the daily traffic loads encountered by the residents of the neighborhood. In the last year there was an attempt to budget for the construction of the road and to finish its design, but in practice, things have not yet been carried out.

The damage to the urban nature found in Sabioni Dania must be reduced

The environmental and social activist, Tomer Shalu, believes that if it is decided to pave a western exit to the Savioni Dania neighborhood, the damage to the urban nature should be minimized as much as possible, and the road should be planned in order to provide a more correct and accurate response from a transportation point of view. After examining, according to him, the planned road and the alternatives that were examined by the director of engineering in the municipality and were rejected, he found an alternative route which, in his opinion, better serves the interests of the residents of the two neighborhoods, and also prevents serious damage to the forest.

"Savioni Dania is a 'balloon neighborhood,'" says Shalu, "it has one exit and one entrance. It is a large neighborhood with 1,200 units, and during rush hours traffic jams form there. The lessons learned from the fire in Carmel and the need for evacuation and the demand of the fire department and other security agencies to have a double exit to the neighborhood require the construction of a road from Sabioni Dania. In addition, the neighborhood has extensive construction plans that are expected to increase the neighborhood by 50%, that is, from 1,200 units to 1,800 units. There are areas in the neighborhood that are statutorily approved for construction, and hence there is a real need for another exit from the neighborhood.

The municipality must open another exit to the planned neighborhood, instead of creating a continuum with the Ramat Alon neighborhood. The existing and statutorily approved plan is for a winding and relatively long road between the two neighborhoods. The construction of the road in this area will be a violation of the urban nature, and a serious damage to the natural and special forest that exists there.

In recent years, we have developed hiking trails in the forest that are a source of recreation for many of the city's residents, such as the 'Magic Tree Trail', and it is a shame that these properties will be damaged by the construction. What's more, the proposed solution is bad from a transportation point of view, since the traffic from Sabioni Dania will reach the commercial center of the Ramat Alon neighborhood by a long and winding road, which may create traffic jams that will not benefit the residents of both neighborhoods.

I understand the urgent need of the Haifa municipality to find a balm for the residents, but suggest to stop and think, especially when there is a much better alternative on the table."

"There is a much better solution"

"When we arrived with the 'Carmel Public Forum' for a meeting with the municipality on the issue, they presented us with the alternatives we had examined, and claimed that the move from the Ramat Alon neighborhood was the best. Although I understood the municipality's rationale for the matter, I insisted that a better solution must be found, and after analyzing the area I found a solution which was hidden 'under the nose' and has not yet been tested by the engineering manager. To my surprise, this solution met the needs of all parties in an optimal way. I propose to connect Sabioni Dania via Orland Street directly to the marked intersection on Viareh Biram (the entrance to Agoz Street). This is a breakthrough about 100 m long at the edge of the forest.

This exit will allow the residents of Savoni Dania to leave the neighborhood directly to the main road, without getting into Ramat Alon's traffic jams. This solution benefits the residents of the two neighborhoods, Ramat Alon and Sabion Dania, and prevents serious damage to the forest. The road will be only about 100 meters long, compared to 400 meters in the original plan, which also includes significant quarrying in the mountain, along 300 meters, in order to compensate for the topography of a 45 percent slope on the descent from the mountain."

"I discussed the matter with the deputy mayor, Sharit Golan Steinberg, and even sent her a presentation and visualization of the plan. She promised that the proposal would be forwarded to the director of engineering for examination. The residents of Ramat Alon are unanimous in their opposition to the opening of an access road that passes through their neighborhood. The residents of Savoni Dania are divided due to different approaches to the issue Expanding the neighborhood and turning roads that are now dead ends into access and exit roads to the neighborhood.

I am on the board of the Carmel Public Forum, and the forum has adopted my proposal and is promoting it. I also receive support from 'Movement Israel'. We are asking the municipality to examine my proposal by professional parties and see if it is better than the existing plan."

"This road will endanger lives"

Shush Ringel, a resident of Ramat Alon and a social and environmental activist: "We did a tour of the area to show how much the mountain could be damaged if the road they are planning to build is paved - the road is supposed to start from Orland Street in Sabioni Dania and pass through the neighborhood from Yigal Alon Street. The road is supposed to enter the neighborhood exactly at the point where the kindergartens are located , near a high school and a middle school, and a Yavneh school."

"You also have to take into account," Ringel says, "that students come to high school and high school ("Alliance") mainly from outside the neighborhood, in private cars and public transportation. In addition, at the main entrance of the neighborhood is an Alon school, a shopping center, and two nursing homes. In the mornings and afternoons there is also a serious problem with getting in and out of the neighborhood, when parents bring and collect their children. There will be a danger to life here because of the road from Sabioni Dania. In addition, there will be a serious risk for the elderly who live in the old people's homes.

The Ramat Alon road is a narrow road that will become a freeway. The residents of the neighborhood strongly oppose this road. One must also take into account the planned new construction in Savoni Dania, which will also affect traffic in Ramat Alon. We cannot afford additional traffic within the neighborhood."

Checking the possibility of promoting the alternative road route

The head of the Israel Movement headquarters in Haifa, Limor Oren, explains that the activity around the road is exactly the type of activity that the movement works to help promote: "I initiated a tour with Shush Ringel and Tomer. The topic interests us because these are residents who are working to promote something that is important to them. We plan to meet with them this week , in order to check the ways in which we can help".