Monday, November 17, 2008

Growing pains

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Welcome to Jaffa Road, the main artery in the heart of Jerusalem.
But for months now this artery has been clogged.


You see the train in the mural on the building? This is how the tram, the Light Rail will look, IF the track-laying is ever finished.

Let us survey the situation.

To the anger of the merchants whose stores line the street, the sidewalks have been fenced in and potential customers are hard-pressed to navigate the narrow space.

Public transportation is reduced to one lane, in one direction only.

If something like this heavy dump truck has to come up and merge into traffic, your commute across town can last a LONG time.

Part of the Jaffa Road traffic is diverted to the parallel Prophets Street, itself just a narrow 2-lane street with even narrower sidewalks.
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If you saw my Thursday post, you may remember that the new mayor has threatened/promised to review the feasibility of the Light Rail project with its new Bridge of Strings and to replace them with cheaper, more effective alternatives IF he can find any.
Oh give me a break!! He wouldn't stop all this in the middle, would he?
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We are all invited to visit other bloggers' worlds at the new and growing meme, My World.

33 comments:

  1. I won't complain about my traffic for a while!

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  2. Great your World report.
    Thanks for share so important info.

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  3. Oh my god, it must not be so easy to keep calm...
    Hope the train will be finished soon!
    Thanks for sharing!

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  4. I hope it will be done soon. And I'm sure it will be a nice looking site again:)

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  5. Dina: Oh my, the Holy Land as a traffic jam. who would have predicted that occurrence.

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  6. Amen to Louise comments. I am sure that when the project gets completed, all these headaches would be long forgotten.

    Thanks for sharing your world.

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  7. I can almost feel the tempers rise from here! Great photos to illustrate a sad state of affairs! Thanks for sharing.

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  8. Thanks for keeping us up to date. I took a photo of that mural when we were there in July. Yes, I can attest to traffic jams in Jerusalem.

    Politicians get elected, and all sorts of surprises await...

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  9. Our traffic is nothing compared to this. Lucky for us :-)

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  10. Sure looks like a lot of work remains to be done.
    I saw the mural and was going to ask if you had posted it before. I see Leora's comment and maybe it was her. :)

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  11. Wow that looks like a messy situation. I hope that it will be resolved soon. We need better public transportation where I live but after seeing your shots, I won't complain.

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  12. Hawaii is now moving toward getting a rail system also. We're all for it because the traffic here is terrible. It's going to be an inconvenience also...just like what you're seeing but I think it will help in the long run. I hope.

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  13. Great pics, thanks so much for the tour. I would love to visit Jerusalem some day. Thanks for sharing!

    Cheers!
    Regina In Pictures

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  14. Construction is a mess no matter where it is I guess, but that looks worse than most. Hope the train actually gets done and soon. Interesting post.

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  15. Oh dear what a mess and terrible impedenc for people going abut their daily lives!

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  16. Feel your pain! Had a similar never ending building project nest to my door for two years..
    Great images - and good luck!
    Cheers, Klaus

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  17. This reminds me of how the vendors along Cambie Street in Vancouver lost most of their customers because of the rail line being put in here. Great shots today, Dina!

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  18. growing pain indeed, well, you an cheer up by thinking it won't be forever!

    Traffic is bad in my part of the wrold too.with or without construction.

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  19. I've only seen Jerusalem thru the bible and I know that it's totally different now and I want to visit the place someday.
    My World Tuesday #2

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  20. Maybe this seems a tad demented but I can't get over a street named Parallel Prophets. Kind of a hoot.

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  21. From the comments it sounds like this problem is worsening world-wide. We just voted in more public transportation money here in the Los Angeles area. I hope it helps. And I hope your new mayor and his advisers can alleviate your situation.

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  22. I guess we have traffic problems in common in many places in the world..

    New Rambling Woods Site

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  23. Hello Dina !

    Very busy Jerusalem...

    Will the tram go in the all "parts" of the town ???

    See You later !

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  24. I always enjoy seeing street photography of various city. Glad to discover your blog through My World Tuesday! Will visit more often to learn about your city!

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  25. oh my god, this is just too close to home for me - we have so many roadworks all happening at the same time, that it drives me crazy. the road to my workplace has been constructed, deconstructed, under construction, you name it ever since i started working here 14 years ago...
    (will try to get that cemetery post you asked - more snooping around detective work being called for...)

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  26. Oh goodness! And I thought Manila's traffic and project control was bad. I sure hope the project gets completed soon — and I agree with you, I don't think stopping it now is a solution.

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  27. Are they required to stop digging if they run into something of ancient times that is or seems to be, important.

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  28. It looks a real mess and I think if I were one of those shop owners, I would scream every time I looked outside. I hope it will be finished soon :)
    Thank you for following my blog, by the way, I really appreciate it!

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  29. always enjoy your posts...let's hope the project is completed soon.
    thanks for sharing with us.

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  30. Wow -- what a mess that construction is, on top of everything else... Interesting photos...

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  31. yikes I hope he doesnt decide to do that! I have heard of single lane traffis, but single lane pedestrians! O MY

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  32. What a traffic, Dina!
    Excellent report, very interesting sequence of pictures.

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  33. Our never-ending road repairs in Michigan drive us crazy, too. The one advantage to winter is that the road crews have to stop work.

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