The site of the parking complex collapse
Photo: Yaron Brener
Tel Aviv light rail was due to pass over collapsed parking structure
The disaster site was apparently slated to withhold the weight of the Green Line train; 'This is a colossal engineering oversight,' says engineer Israel David, who was hired to look into the case and oversee the complex's rebuilding.
The parking structure in the northern Tel Aviv neighborhood of Ramat HaHayal that collapsed last Monday
was reportedly due to withstand the weight of the light rail. The parking complex was assumed to be able to withhold both the train tracks' construction and the continuing weight of the Green Line, as it passed above it.
Sources from within the building and planning industry expressed "shock" over "the very thought of an entire train plummeting into the ground." Construction on the Green Line is due to take place during 2018. The NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System, which is in charge of the light rail construction in Tel Aviv, eventually decided to divert the train route away from the complex. However, construction company Danya Cebus, which was in charge of the parking complex's building, went ahead and fortified the parking complex, in case the NTA changed their minds again and decided to have the light rail pass over the complex.
The site of the parking complex collapse (Photo: Yaron Brener)
"This is a colossal engineering oversight," said Israel David, the engineer commissioned by Danya Cebus to look into the collapse and oversee the parking structure's new fortification. According to Israel, "The city's plans had the Green Line, and I cannot even imagine the scope of the (diverted) disaster. It could have been the worst engineering disaster in the history of the country."
