Regev Pushes Ahead With Plan to Raise Speed Limits on Some Intercity Roads

The Transportation Ministry is promoting a reform to raise the speed limit on some of the country’s main intercity roads. This emerges from Transportation Minister Miri Regev’s response to a parliamentary question by MK Eitan Ginzburg of Blue and White about the speed limit on Route 1. Regev explained that these are roads that have undergone changes, while their speed limits have not yet been adjusted to the new road layout.

The issue began in July 2025, when Ginzburg submitted a question to Regev asking why at kilometer 26 on Route 1 the speed is limited to 90 km/h, while on the rest of the road the permitted speed is up to 110 km/h. Ginzburg referred to the section between Sha’ar HaGai and Latrun and said the change creates confusion among drivers, since the road layout remains the same and there is, in his view, no justification for the restriction. The reason for submitting the question was numerous appeals from drivers who were fined hundreds of shekels and given points after mistakenly believing that the permitted speed in that section was also 110 km/h.

In February 2026, Regev replied in the Knesset plenum that she would examine the issue, and last night, Wednesday, she announced that the Transportation Ministry had decided to make several changes to the speed limit on Route 1, as well as on key roads 90 and 431. The reason for the gap in speeds on these roads is that most of them were renovated and changed over the years, but the speed limit on them was fixed based on an old regulation. The new changes are intended to adapt the speed on these roads to the new reality.

The plan is the result of cooperation between the Traffic Police and the National Road Safety Authority, which examined, among other things, road accident data, the width of the roads after renovations, and safety procedures. The plan includes the section in question on Route 1 between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Route 90 in the Arava, and Route 431. According to expectations, the speed limit on all sections of Routes 1 and 90 will be 110 km/h, not 90 km/h, and on Route 431 the speed will rise from 70 km/h to 90 km/h. The police intend to increase enforcement in these areas to ensure the changes are not abused.