Red Sea–Dead Sea Access

The Red Sea - Dead Sea Access is a series of highway construction projects intended to bring easy transportation and prosperity to Jordan, Israel, Palestine and the surrounding area.

Anticipation

A highway access between the Red Sea and Dead Sea has been anticipated by the people for centuries. The bible has mentioned such a highway as well: "...there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left..." (Isaiah, chapter 11:16) "And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness...of the day of the Lord's vengeance and the desert to blossom..." (Isaiah, chapter 35:8)

The Agreement

An agreement was signed in [[Amman[[ on Oct. 24th, 1974 between the Retired Servicemen Engineering Agency (RSEA) of Taiwan and the Jordanian government, under which a new "road to friendship" will be built in the southern part of the Hashemite Kingdom. Yen Hsiao-chang, RSEA director, and Ahmad Shobaki, Jordanian minister of public works, signed the agreement for the construction of the 187-kilometer highway.

Under the agreement, RSEA will build the highway in 30 months. Construction will start in three months. Carrying a price tag of 14 million U.S. dollars, the highway will open up new horizons in industrial and agricultural development in southern Jordan.

The Preparation

Taiwan engineers and local labors at the site

600,000 cubic meters of sand dune was opened for the critical area of the road within three months. To expedite the program, engineering expertise from surveying to embankment were brought in from Taiwan as well. More than 150 pieces of equipment were used, including 3 Wabco 555 self-elevating scrapers, 10 Caterpillar Bulldozers, 10 HINO dumping trucks, loaders, graders, water tanks, vibrating compactors and roller compactors, etc.

Safi-Aqaba Highway

Crown Prince of Jordan visits the construction site

The Safi-Aqaba Highway is a highway at Jordan side of the Jordan/Israel border. Totaling 187km in length, it connects Safi, the south end of Dead Sea to Aqaba, the north pint of Red Sea.

All engineers, mechanics, operators -74 expatriates - were selected from RSEA's job site at Taiwan (ROC), Africa, Saudi Arabia and Thailand. There are also over 200 local operators, laborers from Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Yemen, etc. The working schedule should follow Muslim's custom regarding the warship bell and festival of Ramadan and Hajj.

There was rarely life of animals and plants along the construction route. During the construction, the engineering group and equipment were moved in from Aqaba to form a new town in the desert, the lowest place in the world.

Besides high temperatures over 40 celsius degrees, the project had some challenges along the way. The Jordan/Israel border fence at 57k was standing on the designed alignment. Lin Chi-Ko, manager of Jordan Project Office of RSEA, contacted Israel patrol at the fence and told them the fence need to be moved to meet the highway design. After the fence was moved, the surveyors continued to work through. Furthermore, at 25k-66k, Jordan Engineering Corps support had to clear some mines. And it was only safe to conduct construction within 100m of the centerline of the alignment. Uufortunately, on June 17, 1975, an accident happened. The leader of surveying team of Jordan Public Works, along with two technicians and a driver were killed by a mine.

"The Pavilion of Friendship", a landmark and symbol for the highway, was built as a present by Taiwan to Jordan. Even though the diplomatic relation was terminated eventually, the people from two countries continued working together to finish building the highway.

Projects pass over Wadi Arabah

Safi - Mazra'a Highway is 32km in length. the embankment at the swampy region, and the rock at steep cliff area was exploded to use for the backfill. RSEA provided the equipment in the desert to Hyundai Engineering & Construction for housing units and to M&K Construction Company for Arab Potash Company projects.

Sweima - Zara Highway, 19km in length, was built north of Mazra'a. There is a gap along the Dead Sea between Mazra'a and Sweima. All heavy equipments were moved through King's Highway via Al Karak on crooked mountain roads over 800km. And the Camp of Sweima was set face to face with the golden dome of Jerusalem across the Dead Sea.

Incomplete Section by the Dead Sea

There's an incomplete section from Mazra'a to Zara. Part of the original scope of the project, this section is 35km in length. The highway can range from a dirt road to a pavement and is intended to facilitate access by the Dead Sea. But the impact of the project was a dominant concern. Environment control, natural resource development, transportation facilities, tunnels, bridges and other structures are all among the factors taken into consideration. And it was decided that the project would be too expensive.

Two Seas Canal

The connection of the seas by canal was suggested in the mid 19th century by British officers who were thinking how to circumvent the Suez Canal. Later on at the end of the 19th century planners thought how to use the Jordan River water for irrigation and bring sea water to the Dead Sea to create energy from its position of -390 m below sea level. One of those planners was the Zionist leader Hertzel. The Red Sea Dead Sea conduit was proposed in the end of the 1960s and was analyzed as part of the peace process between Israel and Jordan.

On May 9, 2005 Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement to go ahead with a feasibility study for the Two Seas Canal. The agreement was signed on the Dead Sea by Jordanian Water Minister Raed Abu Soud, Israeli Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Palestinian Planning Minister Ghassan al-Khatib.

In August 2013, Jordanian government announced that it would move ahead with the first phase of the project. On December 9th, 2013, an agreement to build the pipeline was signed by Israel, Jordan and Palestine.