This plan was met with stiff opposition by the Jewish National Fund and a variety of "Green" groups due to ecological damage to the forest.

As a result, the plan was changed to include a tunnel under Har Nof with an intermediate above-ground interchange at Nahal Revida.

A plan to build the road as one long tunnel with the Nahal Ravida Interchange underground was rejected for economic reasons and because of the need for massive ventilation facilities that would cause greater environmental damage to the forest.

[6] Following the death of Talmudic scholar and former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel Ovadia Yosef in 2013, Israeli Minister of Transport Yisrael Katz announced that the road would be named in his honour.

[16] Critics of the project note that because the road currently ends at a traffic light, it creates heavy congestion inside the city.

Building of the project significantly disrupted the Motza and Revida valleys' natural habitat, including a large pre-historic archeological site, which was discovered and subsequently reburied.