Improving Safety and Traffic at Shiloh Junction

Just a few years ago, the powers that be in our Binyamin region thought they were improving our lives by building a sort of bus stop/hitchhiking post on Highway 60 going north at the Shiloh Junction. It has a bench, top and backing. For safety there are even a few poles that in theory would stop a terrorist vehicle from ramming into waiting Jews seated there.

Yes, in theory, sitting at some desk, designed and planned by "experts" who own cars and get cars from their employers, that bus stop/hitchhiking post is a gem.

But for us, those who get dropped off there, or those who have to that bus stop/hitchhiking post, it's terrifying.

• The bus stop/hitchhiking post is far north from the Shiloh junction.
• There's no safety barrier, or even sidewalk between the "shelter" and the turnoff to Shiloh.
• Walking to the Shiloh turnoff requires walking directly into traffic, and most of the traffic is Arab. 
• Walking from the Shiloh turnoff requires having your back to the traffic.
• All this brings up my post traumatic stress from the terror attack, first ramming, in which I was injured over twenty years ago.

A couple of months ago, there was an announcement that due to the heavy traffic by the Shiloh Junction, we're being upgraded to a traffic light. 

Thank Gd, more than just a traffic light will be gracing our junction. The entire Shiloh Junction is being upgraded. There will be designated lanes for right turns. The construction of this new Shiloh Junction has been causing traffic delays most nights. It's far from finished, but the terrifying walk along the road is now a thing of the past. Last night I happily hopped, skipped and jumped while making my way through the dirt and rocks until I could cross the road and catch a ride going into Shiloh. The icing on the cake was when someone offered me a ride before I even reached the sidewalk. 

Next big request is that they make that  bus stop/hitchhiking post into an official bus stop, so we'll have more transportation northwards to Eli, Ariel and Tapuach. Gd willing....

Nu? And What was That?

The other day while traveling by bus from Shiloh in the direction of Jerusalem on Road 60, there was strange stoppage by Givat Asaf, the junction to Beit El. I was sitting in the bus in the front, and this is what I saw:

While we passengers and the driver began discussing the possibilities, it suddenly cleared. Traffic moved, and the police/soldiers went back to wherever... So, what was it?

Travel Dangers in Judea vs Binyamin

The other week when traveling with my daughter and her daughters to Alon Shvut, Gush Etzion to see the play "Sisters," we noticed something very surprising to us. On the Gush Etzion part of Highway 60, unlike the Mateh Binyamin section of the same highway, there are bus stops.

thanks to Ruth Jaffe Lieberman

Security authorities in our area, Highway 60 from Adam to Eli, do not permit bus stops on the main road. There are trempiadas, places one can wait for rides or offer rides outside of communities like Ofra or at junctions like Shiloh and Eli, but no public bus is permitted to have stops there. We, the carless, have to decide at times whether or not to wait for a bus and possible tremp inside at a bus stop, or wait for a tremp where this is no chance a bus will stop.

In Gush Etzion, the trempiadas on the main road,  Highway 60, are also bus stops, which can make traveling easier, but there's a downside to this. Highway 60 is a popular venue for Arab terrorists. They take advantage of the lack of real protection for innocent Jews. It's very easy for them to shoot and stab, since they don't have to pass through a security check to get to the bus stop. And as we all know, many of the victims of Arab terror at the Gush Etzion bus stops had considered themselves careful since they weren't going to tremp.

I don't claim to be a security expert, and didn't serve in the IDF, but I've been living in Israel since 1970 and in Shiloh since 1981, and I'm also a terror attack survivor, injured, too. But it seems to me that life in Gush Etzion would be safer if they kept bus stops off of the road. At least it would be harder for the terrorists to reach/harm/kill innocent Israelis.