Reopening of Chekka highway westbound lane on road to north Lebanon

After years of partial closure, the Chekka highway (northern Lebanon) is now fully accessible at Hamat, just before the large Chekka tunnel, our correspondent reports.

This section had been partially closed since Dec. 13, 2018, following a major landslide that required reconstruction of the retaining wall — an operation repeatedly postponed since 2019 due to the ongoing economic crisis.

The entire westbound lane (from the North toward Beirut), therefore, remained blocked for years, with all traffic diverted to the single eastbound lane. This reopening thus helps ease traffic on the main road connecting northern Lebanon to the rest of the country.

According to our correspondent, although the road is now open, reinforcement work on the retaining wall is ongoing to ensure the infrastructure meets safety standards.

The Public Works and Transport Ministry issued a statement announcing the reopening of the road, noting that the budget allocated for this work since 2024 is $6,350,000 and that the Ministry transferred it to the Higher Relief Committee, which carried out the work in cooperation with Khatib & Alami.

The statement notes that Public Works and Transport Minister Fayez Rassamny "closely followed this matter, lifting the financial barriers that prevented completion of the work and ensuring that the project would be finished before the holidays."