The government has approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Transport Minister Miri Regev’s proposal to give Route 60 a new official name. At a ceremony on Thursday attended by Netanyahu, his wife Sara Netanyahu, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee and Regev, the road was renamed “The Bible Road.”
Route 60 is described as the historic north-south artery of the Land of Israel, linking major heritage sites including Shiloh, Beit El, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron. Netanyahu called the move “another link in the chain of generations,” adding, “This is not just a road of asphalt, but a road of memory, faith and a promise fulfilled.” Regev said it connects the glorious past of prophets and kings with the future now being built.
The renaming is part of a wider transport drive in Judea and Samaria under the ministry’s “Connecting Israel” vision. The ministry says it is investing billions of shekels in upgrading the road network to improve safety and shorten travel times. Among the projects cited are the Huwara bypass, opened for traffic at a cost of about 350 million shekels, widening of Route 60 near Al-Arub and Hussan for hundreds of millions more, and a 500 million shekel upgrade of Route 505 between Ariel and Tapuah Junction.
The ministry is also advancing faster public transport, including BRT lines, and last month inaugurated the first railway station in the area since the state was founded. Huckabee said many people in the world do not understand the depth of the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, which he placed at about 3,800 years. Local leaders welcomed the decision, with Gush Etzion council head Yaron Rosental calling it “a historic closing of a circle” and Binyamin council head and Yesha Council chairman Israel Gantz saying the goal is to turn Route 60 into “the artery of the heartland” and Israel’s new Route 6. The Tourism Ministry will now include the route in Israel’s international promotional materials.
