Framework
The City of Jerusalem is considered the largest city in Israel and has a total land area of approximately 125 square kilometres, with a population of 850.000 inhabitants and a population density of 6.789 inhabitants per square kilometre. Its traffic volume is 1.070.000 trips per day. Currently, traffic congestion and traffic flow present major challenges for the city and its centre in particular.
The Municipality of Jerusalem has been engaged in a comprehensive development and mobility plan focused inward – on the city centre – and outward – on the greater metropolitan area – to meet the dual challenge of meeting the needs of its multi-cultural population whilst simultaneously being able to host the many visitors who come to experience its historical, religious, and cultural heritage.
Measure fields in practice
Jerusalem’s transportation plan is based upon a policy of inverting the mobility hierarchy by giving the highest priority to nonmotorized pedestrian and cycling transportation, followed by public transportation and, lastly, by private vehicles. Thus, city-centre LEZ will be implemented by using license plate recognition technology. In two further stages, the zone will increase in size and the restrictions will become stricter, progressing towards a ZEZ. The LEZ results will allow a better understanding of the difficulties, the engagement process and access criteria needed to move from a LEZ to a ZEZ and will possibly jumpstart the existing initiative of bus providers (public and private) upgrading their fleets and of merchants sending freight on lighter, cleaner trucks. The ZEZ will possibly have spill-over benefits outside of the cordon.
