By Judith Sudilovsky - April 14, 2022
As Israel’s skies finally opened up to tourists six weeks ago for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began, the final touches were being completed on making the Old City accessible not only to wheelchairs and baby strollers but also to mini-ambulances and mini-garbage trucks, all to improve the quality of life for residents.
After a decade of work and an investment of more than NIS 22 million, the accessibility of the sixth kilometer in the alleys of the Old City of Jerusalem was completed just in time for the many visitors expected during the upcoming Easter, Ramadan and Passover holidays.
It took 10 years for the first four kilometers of the Accessible Jerusalem-Old City project to be complete because of the complexity of working within the one square kilometer historical area, where both the city and its walls are a designated UNESCO World Heritage site, in which its local residents live their daily lives and to which millions of visitors ascend each year, noted Gura Burger, spokeswoman for the East Jerusalem Development Corporation (PMI) which implemented the program.
Read More: Jerusalem Post