Israel Matzav

Why would they lie about the traffic?

This is WAY off topic, and is probably of little interest except to Jerusalemites. But I thought I would throw it up here anyway and see if any of you have connections with the municipality.

This morning, the southbound Begin highway, which crisscrosses the city, was badly jammed up - the worst I have ever seen except when the tunnel (pictured under construction) is closed due to an accident or car fire. Israel Radio reported that the backup was being caused by a broken down car in the tunnel. That was a lie.

Long before the tunnel, the backup - which had left us sitting for about 20 minutes - cleared up. The backup was caused by a steam shovel and a truck doing road work in the right lane on the uphill stretch to the exit to the city, which is before the tunnel. They effectively closed the two right lanes, which meant that the traffic backed up instantly. And then the trucks that insist on traveling on Begin during the height of rush hour tried to push all of us aside so that they could get up the hill....

When I got through the tunnel and confirmed that there was no breakdown there, I called the traffic center on my cell phone and told them that the police (from whom they get their 'confirmed' information) had lied to them. The reason for the backup was construction. Who does construction on an uphill stretch on the second busiest highway in the city (after the Jerusalem - Tel Aviv road) at 8:20 am?!?

The woman agreed with me and told me that the road is administered by the city and that the city was at fault and agreed that she would pass it on. I also assumed that she would cause the traffic report to be fixed.

40 minutes later (and STILL in my car - it should take about 45 minutes round trip to take the boys to school), just after I pass the still massive backup in the now-opposite direction, Israel Radio reports that Begin South is jammed "from Lifta to the Pat Intersection (an intersection at the southern end of the city that Begin never hits). What the?!?

By the way, all they report here is "traffic jam" and once in a great while we are told why there is a traffic jam. But we don't have the kind of sophisticated traffic system that tells us that there's a 60-minute back-up on the upper deck of the George Washington Bridge. On the other hand, that didn't work out too well for me either, did it?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:20 AM