Rabbi Ovadia Highway Coming to Jerusalem

By JTA October 14, 2013

A new highway into Jerusalem will be named for the late Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas party.

Route 16, which will run near the neighborhoods of western Jerusalem and pass through Har Nof, where Yosef lived, will be named for the former chief Sephardic rabbi of Israel who died last week, Transportation Minister Israel Katz said Sunday.

“Route 16 symbolically makes a connection between two great men — [former prime minister] Menachem Begin and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef — through the two main entrances to the city,” Katz said, according to the Times of Israel.

The Begin highway also passes through Jerusalem and is undergoing expansion. The two roads are slated to connect to each other.

“Rabbi Ovadia was a great figure for the entire nation of Israel, and a great figure for the city of Jerusalem,” Katz said.

Construction on Route 16 is scheduled to begin next year.

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