The splendor and might of the Herodian Temple Mount are most appreciated along the western and southern walls. Adjoining these walls are fine, wide streets. Monumental entrances in the walls led into the Temple Mount. These building achievements highlight Herod's aspirations to impress the citizens of Jerusalem and its many visitors. The western street (Tour 1, Site 6) was the main street of Jerusalem during the Late Second Temple period. It was paved with immense flagstones (as much as 3 m long). The street stretches from Damascus Gate in the north to the Pool of Siloam in the south, more than one kilometer long! Running along both lengths of the street were small shops, some of which probably accommodated the infamous money changers. Under the Paved Street were two drainage conduits (Tour 1, Site 8), the lower was hewn into the rock at a depth of six meters below the pavement, its upper part stone-vaulted. at twice the height of an average person. This was presumably the main channel draining surface runoff from the paved street, perhaps also excess water from the streets of the Upper City. Surplus water flowed along the drain to Birkat al-Hamra, one of the large reservoirs to the south of the city, at the confluence of the Tyropoeon and Kidron Valleys (Tour 2, Site 33). The upper level drain is approximately one and a half meters below street level. Only a small section has been exposed to date near the corner of the Temple Mount, on the west side of the street. At that point drainage was provided by a stone paving-slab, bearing a series of parallel grooves intended to channel rainwater into the drain.

Two tremendous arches span this street providing access into the Temple Mount. The southern arch, of which there are only scant remains, is named after the American Bible scholar Edward Robinson, who was the first to identify it in 1838. This arch (13 m in span) – one of the largest known in monumental Roman building - was supported on the west by a massive stone pier. Perpendicular to Robinson's Arch is a row of vaults of gradually decreasing height from north to south. These vaults supported a monumental flight of stairs that led from the street to the Royal Stoa on the Temple Mount (Jewish Antiquities, Book 15, Chapter 11, 410) The arch spanning the northern part of the street is named after the British scholar Charles Wilson. Wilson's Arch towers above the Jewish prayer area known as the Wailing Wall. The street running below is covered by a thick layer of stone debris. The arch was part of a bridge that crossed the Tyropoeon Valley and connected the Upper City of Jerusalem with the Temple Mount, providing the priests with easy access. This arch also carried the Lower Aqueduct which conducted water into the many ritual baths and cisterns located on the Temple Mount (The Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 31a).

The street along the western wall of the Temple Mount holds striking evidence of the massive destruction of the Temple and the Temple Mount (Tour 1, Site 6). After the occupation of the Temple Mount and the burning down of the Temple on the ninth and tenth days of the month of Av, year 3830 according to the Jewish tradition (70 CE), Roman soldiers embarked on the deliberate obliteration of the Temple, the Royal Stoa and the walls of the Temple Mount. The large stones were dismantled and hurled down to the street below; hundreds of tons of building stones were heaped up on the paved street. The excavation of the site uncovered these huge stones – some of them were struck by fire, as evident by the change of color and fissures on their sides that faced the temple's courtyard. The southern part of the stone collapse was cleared up, but the northern part remains as sheer evidence of the power of the brutal destruction of the Temple Mount. (The Jewish War, Book 6, Chapter 5, 271-287) A street also extends along the southern wall of the Temple Mount, where two monumental entrances -the Huldah Gates (Tour 1, Site 17) – pierced the wall. The gates were approaced by means of monumental staircases of alternating narrow and broad steps. East of the eastern Huldah Gate a series of scorch marks alludes to the past existence of a series of vaults. These vaults had supported a staircase leading to the east.