Beit Hanina
Construction of Road 20 was not without controversy. The stated official purpose of the road is to ease traffic congestion at Sha'ar Mizrach Junction of Highway 60 and Highway 1. The road provides an alternative route for residents of Beit Hanina, Shu'afat, Pisgat Zeev and Neve Yaakov via Highway 50 (Begin Boulevard) southward to central Jerusalem and northward to Route 443 to Tel Aviv. Groups such as Peace Now have stated that the plan designates occupied territory for permanent infrastructure and that the purpose of the road is to consolidate Israeli control over (North) East Jerusalem while disregarding the needs of the residents in Beit Hanina. The planning committee rejected opposition from Beit Hanina on the grounds that direct access to Begin Boulevard would benefit them and found an engineering solution in the form of a bridge to limit the footprint on West Bank land from the extension to the interchange.