Kerem Tunnel (Hebrew: מנהרת כרם, Minheret Kerem) is a cycling tunnel in southwest Jerusalem, Israel. It is currently the only one in Israel.[1]
The tunnel was originally built as a utility tunnel in the 1990s by Hagihon (Jerusalem's water company) to run a sewage pipe from the city's southwestern neighborhoods to the Sorek stream sewage treatment plant. The tunnel is 2.1 kilometers long and 3 meter wide.
In 2018 the tunnel was officially declared part of the Jerusalem Ring Path, a 42-kilometer cycling route, connecting the path between the valley of Rephaim and the valley of Motza.[2]
The Tunnel's southern entrance is in the Rephaim Park, below Ein Lavan, and its northern entrance is in the valley of Ein Kerem, about half a kilometer from the Kerem junction. The tunnel was opened for cyclists in September 2022.[1] During the 2023 Israel–Hamas war the tunnel was closed between October 7, 2023 until December 5, 2023.
Opening hours
- Summer time: 06:00—19:00
- Winter time: 07:00—16:30