Israel's Road Network Fails to Keep Pace With Vehicle Growth, Causing Congestion
Translated & summarized from Maariv by baba
Israel's road infrastructure has lagged behind a 2.1-fold increase in vehicles over two decades, leading to significant traffic congestion. In 2025, total vehicle mileage reached 69.3 billion kilometers, a 2.6% rise from 2024, with over 4.3 million vehicles registered. Newer vehicles, particularly leased ones, travel more kilometers annually. Hybrid taxis now outnumber diesel taxis, and electric taxis have the highest mileage.
The story in 6 lines · by baba
- Israel's road area grew only 31% while vehicle numbers increased 2.1 times between 2005-2025.
- Total vehicle mileage in Israel reached 69.3 billion km in 2025, a 2.6% increase from 2024.
- Over 4.3 million vehicles were registered in Israel in 2025.
- Privately owned leased cars averaged 26,600 km annually in 2025.
- Hybrid taxis now outnumber diesel taxis in Israel.
- Electric taxis recorded the highest average annual mileage at 65,700 km.
Israel's road network has not kept pace with the significant increase in the number of vehicles on its roads over the past two decades, leading to worsening traffic congestion. Between 2005 and 2025, the total annual vehicle mileage in Israel grew by 66%, while the number of vehicles on the road more than doubled, increasing by 2.1 times. In contrast, the road area expanded by only 31%, and road length increased by 43% during the same period, according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).
In 2025, the total mileage for all motorized vehicles in Israel reached 69.3 billion kilometers, a 2.6% increase from 2024. Private vehicles accounted for 55.8 billion kilometers, up 2.9% from the previous year. The total number of registered vehicles in 2025 was over 4.3 million, including approximately 3.8 million private cars, over 313,000 trucks, and more than 178,000 motorcycles.
The CBS report also highlighted that newer vehicles tend to travel more kilometers annually. Privately owned leased cars averaged 26,600 kilometers in 2025, slightly more than privately owned new cars which averaged 25,300 kilometers. Electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles averaged 21,300 kilometers, while gasoline-powered cars averaged 18,300 kilometers.
For the first time, hybrid taxis outnumbered diesel taxis, with 12,900 hybrid taxis compared to 10,200 diesel taxis. Electric taxis recorded the highest average annual mileage at 65,700 kilometers. Despite the increase in electric vehicles, fuel consumption rose in 2025, with gasoline consumption up 0.3% and diesel consumption up 2.8%.
