Highway 38 (Israel)

Highway 38 begins at the Sha'ar HaGai Interchange on Highway 1, the main Jerusalem–Tel Aviv artery, and runs southward to Beit Shemesh.[1][2] From there it continues toward Beit Guvrin.[2] At the Eshtaol Interchange, travelers may turn onto Road 44 toward Ramla or continue via Road 395 toward Tzova and the Forest of the Martyrs.[1]

The Forest of the Martyrs, located on the outskirts of Jerusalem, is a Holocaust memorial forest whose planned symbolism centers on six million trees representing the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust.[1] Highway 38 serves as the primary approach road to the site from Highway 1.[1]

A series of phased infrastructure upgrades transformed Highway 38 into a modern dual carriageway over several years. A bridge at Hartuv opened on July 28, 2016, designed to allow vehicles traveling from Beit Shemesh toward Sha'ar HaGai to enter the route without waiting at the junction.[3]

In the summer of 2017, two major sections were completed in quick succession. The section between Eshtaol and Sha'ar HaGai opened as a dual carriageway on July 21, 2017, with the Mesilat Zion entrance junctions on both the western and eastern sides of the highway opening two days earlier, on July 19.[3] The approximately 10-kilometer section between Sha'ar HaGai and Beit Shemesh followed on August 10, 2017, featuring two lanes in each direction, 10 bridges, three interchanges, and upgrades to 15 junctions.[3]

Expansion continued into the early 2020s. The Ramat Beit Shemesh interchange opened on October 11, 2020. The chronology separately records January 31, 2021, for the opening of the Givat Sharet–Ramat Beit Shemesh dual-carriageway section, with two lanes in each direction.[3]

A government infrastructure plan outlined further planned works between Tzora and Ramat Beit Shemesh, including a separator at the Yishai–Givat Sharet junction, a pedestrian bridge at the entrance to the western industrial zone, and additional separators and a pedestrian bridge at the entrance to Ramat Beit Shemesh. The estimated construction cost for this phase was NIS 430 million, with construction expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2018 over a three-year period.[6] A separate project, assigned to Netivei Israel and classified at the initiation stage, proposed replacing the traffic-lighted entrances to Beit Shemesh and Highway 3855 with two interchanges at an estimated cost of NIS 130 million.[6]

Archaeological work associated with Highway 38's expansion revealed settlement remains spanning thousands of years in the Judean lowlands.[4][5]

Salvage excavations conducted ahead of the highway's expansion near Eshtaol uncovered settlement remains spanning from the beginning of the eighth millennium BCE through the end of the fourth millennium BCE.[5] Among the finds was what researchers described as the oldest structure ever found in the Judean lowlands, dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. A six-sided standing stone was interpreted as evidence of a Chalcolithic cultic temple.[5]

Excavations near Tel Beit Shemesh, also conducted in preparation for the road's expansion, revealed a previously unknown and unusually well-preserved settlement from the Kingdom of Judah, dated to the First Temple period — approximately the eighth through sixth centuries BCE.[4] The site yielded an industrial zone, dozens of houses, approximately 15 olive presses, more than 200 jug handles stamped with the phrase "for the king," a headless stone figure of the Egyptian deity Bes, cultic statues, and plaster-covered cisterns.[4] The Bible Lands Museum subsequently presented an exhibition titled "Highway Through History" featuring finds from the Tel Beit Shemesh excavation; museum director Amanda Weiss stated that the discoveries had changed understanding of the First Temple period "irrevocably."[7]

The discovery of the First Temple-period settlement at Tel Beit Shemesh sparked a dispute between road authorities, archaeologists, and preservation activists over the site's fate.[4] A compromise reached between the Israel Antiquities Authority and Netivei Israel called for the existing two-lane road crossing the site to be expanded to four lanes with minimal shoulders, lowered by approximately 15 meters, and flanked by supporting walls.[4]

Archaeologist Yehuda Govrin stated that approximately half of the site would still be destroyed under the compromise arrangement and characterized destroying a biblical tel for a road as "unprecedented." Preservation activists proposed an alternative: a tunnel beneath the archaeological remains.[4] At the time of reporting, the Israel Antiquities Authority had not yet issued an official statement on the final resolution.[4]