Jaffa Road

Originally paved in 1861 as part of the highway to Jaffa, the road quickly became a focal point for the 19th century expansion out of Jerusalem's Old City walls, and early neighbourhoods like the Russian Compound, Nahalat Shiva, and Mahane Yehuda blossomed around it, as well as Shaare Zedek hospital.

Traffic originally consisted of camels and mules, and the route was eventually improved enough to allow for horse-drawn carriages.

During the period of the British Mandate, the street was further developed with the establishment of many central institutions including the city hall, the city's central post office, the Anglo-Palestine Bank, and the Generali office building.

The municipality responded to problems in the struggling city-centre through focused efforts to redevelop the street; Jaffa Road was limited to public transit (buses and taxis) in an attempt to divert traffic congestion from the area, and became the centrepiece of a new development plan for revitalising the downtown.

A tunnel was excavated under the street at Tzahal Square in 2004 to allow the city's central north-south route to bypass it.

[3] In order to accommodate the new system, new utility lines were laid under one side of the road, which was also widened.