Country: | ISR |
Type: | Route |
Route: | 234 |
Image Notes: | A tractor attempts to cross the submerged Tze'elim Bridge after storms flooded the Negev. |
Length Km: | 23.5 |
Direction A: | South |
Terminus A: | Tze'elim Junction |
Direction B: | North |
Terminus B: | Re'im Junction |
Previous Route: | 232 |
Previous Type: | Route |
Next Route: | 240 |
Next Type: | Route |
Route 234 is a regional highway in the western part of the northern Negev leading from the Tze'elim junction to the Re'im junction in the Gaza Envelope. Its length is about .
The section between Tze'elim and Urim was paved in the late 1950s. The Irish bridge that was paved in the channel of Nahal HaBesor, near the Tze'elim junction, was frequently flooded in winter floods and the blocking of the road by the flooding led to the disconnection of Tze'elim.[1]
About a kilometre long, the short section between Urim and the Urim junction was paved only towards the end of the 1990s.
The section between the Urim junction and the Ra'im junction was paved in the 1970s and is sometimes referred to as the "Tal Or Road" because of the "Tal Or" agricultural farm located halfway along this section of road. This road was paved to allow the residents of the Eshkol Regional Council to move towards Be'er Sheva while Nahal HaBesor flooded Route 241 near the Eshkol National Park. It is true that in 1962 a Bailey bridge, nicknamed "Abraham's Bridge", was built in its place, but this bridge was also destroyed several times in severe floods and therefore Route 234 was paved as a bypass road.