Avenida General Paz (official name Ruta Nacional A001 - National Route A001) is a beltway freeway surrounding the city of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. Roughly following the boundary between the city and

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...

, it is one of the few motorways in Argentina that is toll-free. It carries three lanes of traffic in each direction during most of its length, and five lanes between the

Pan-American Highway The Pan-American Highway (french: (Auto)route panaméricaine/transaméricaine; pt, Rodovia/Auto-estrada Pan-americana; es, Autopista/Carretera/Ruta Panamericana) is a network of roads stretching across the Americas and measuring about in to ...

and the

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and fo ...

. There are feeder roads in both directions and there are service areas along its length, usually with a gas station and fast food restaurants. The route was the first highway in Argentina, built between 1937 and 1941 with a cost of m$n 24 million, and officially inaugurated on July 5, 1941.La avenida General Paz
on Buenos Aires Historia

History

Federal law number 2,089 of 1887 established the limits of the city of

, including the partidos of Belgrano and the former San José de Flores (now Barrio Flores). In Article 6 of that law it declared that a road was to be built to delimit these with the city of Buenos Aires. Due to the plan of drawing straight lines for the road, an exchange of land was made between the

Autonomous City of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South Am ...

and

. Named after

José María Paz Brigadier General José María Paz y Haedo (September 9, 1791 – October 22, 1854) was an Argentine military figure, notable in the Argentine War of Independence and the Argentine Civil Wars. Childhood Born in Córdoba, Argentina, the so ...

, the freeway was designed by Pascual Palazzo and construction was directed by José María Zaballa Carbó. It was the first freeway built in the country. The crossings with the most important avenues were grade-separated; more minor cross-streets were served with

traffic circle A roundabout is a type of circular intersection (road), intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The N ...

s. The road had four lanes, two on each direction and lateral feeder streets of one lane on each side. The pavement was made of

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

. Works started on 8 June 1937, completed in two stages, the first from Riachuelo to

Liniers Liniers is a barrio (neighborhood) of Buenos Aires on the edge of the city, centered on Rivadavia Avenue. It is also an important train station and bus hub, connecting western Gran Buenos Aires with the Buenos Aires Metro. The neighborhood deve ...

(to Ramón Falcón street). The second stage extended from Liniers to

. Works were supervised by Dirección Nacional de Vialidad (the National office that controlled the routes in the country) and carried out by three private companies, "Empresa Argentina de Cemento Armado", "Compañía de Construcciones Civiles S.A.", and "Empresa Sabaría y Garassino Ltda." The freeway was opened to the public on 5 July 1941. In the 1970s the roundabout on Avenida del Libertador was replaced by an interchange. In 1996 the road was modernized and fully grade-separated, widening the road to three lanes on each direction and two feeder streets with two lanes each. To facilitate traffic it was decided that the

colectivo ''Colectivo'' (English: collective bus) is the name given in Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Paraguay to a type of public transportation vehicle, especially those of Argentina's capital city, Buenos Aires. The name comes from ''vehículos de tra ...

bus lines travelled on these feeder roads, except the express service buses, which stop on these feeders. These streets have

speed bumps Speed bumps (also called traffic thresholds, speed breakers or sleeping policemen) are the common name for a class of traffic calming devices that use vertical deflection to slow motor-vehicle traffic in order to improve safety conditions. Varia ...

that limit speed to 40 kilometers per hour (25 mph).

Gallery

File:Avenida General Paz y Acceso Oeste.jpg, The expressway at its junction with Highway 7 File:General Paz San Martín.JPG, Avenida General Paz at its San Martín Avenue exit File:Avenida General Paz y Zapiola hacia el sudoeste.jpg

References

External links

Buenos Aires government current and historical maps
{{coord, -34.55739, -58.503617, display=title National roads in Buenos Aires National roads in Buenos Aires Province General Paz 1941 in transport Ring roads