Newly inaugurated Jerusalem walking route harnesses solar energy
Jerusalem is the first city in Israel to launch an edgy new initiative in urban exercise: a five kilometer (3.11 mile), signposted walking route that cost the city 150,000 NIS (about $37,500) to complete.
As residents and visitors wend their ways along the route, they can read fitness information on signs shaped liked walking silhouettes; they can work out on four different machines artfully arranged in a park that operate by utilizing calisthenics to obviate the need for actual weights; they can drink at several route-side water fountains; and they can weigh themselves on a solar-powered scale.
Many of the signs along the way are designed like mosaics, carved into the Jerusalem stone in keeping with the city's ancient-meets-contemporary aesthetic feel.
The route begins at Malcha's King Park, continues by the three-story Malcha Mall and then passes Beit HaLochem and the Malcha Technological Park before winding around the Malcha neighborhood itself.
Over the course of the coming year, another seven such routes will be completed in the capital, incorporating all the elements featured in the maiden project. There are already a total of 150 kilometers (93.21 miles) of signposted walking routes in the city. The cost of bringing them all up to speed is about two million NIS ($500,000).
Earlier this month, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat inaugurated the route at a festive ceremony (pictured), followed by a neighborhood happening in King Park, where the wooden animals sport blue metal crowns. At the event, Mayor Barkat told the assembled Jerusalemites, "Improving the quality of life in the city is a central element of my vision for Jerusalem. Our special priorities are to focus on parks, green spaces, providing improved access, providing outdoor exercise machines, maintaining our public spaces and keeping the streets clean.
"This walking route that we have inaugurated, which is the most innovative in the country, along with the new sports facilities that we are providing in public spaces, symbolize a healthy city and a positive image that are the result of a healthy ambience."
Photo courtesy of Adir Alon for the Municipality of Jerusalem.
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