Making liveable and sustainable major urban streets: the case of Begin Road in Tel-Aviv – Jaffa

This paper tells the story of the struggle to create a new major urban street that will help liveability and sustainability in the city of Tel-Aviv. Begin Road used to be a major inter-urban road linking the center of Tel-Aviv with its eastern and northern suburbs. With the construction of the Ayalon Freeway, the new suburban rail system, sharing the same corridor, and the planned light rail subway that will run underneath it, this road is undergoing a process of change. It is being transformed into the future main street of the Tel-Aviv CBD. This paper discusses the functions of major urban streets, the detrimental effects of modern traffic engineering practices and the resultant need to revive these streets. This theoretical background guided the design of alternatives for Begin Road. Each alternative has its merits and drawbacks with regard to creating complex major streets and a functioning pedestrian realm. Furthermore, this paper discusses some of the problems of creating such streets in the current regulatory and professional context.