Tunel del Cristo Redentor - Chilean entrance

The Paso Internacional Los Libertadores, also called ''Cristo Redentor'', is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both human and animal migrati ...

in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S l ...

between

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. It is the main transport route out of the Chilean capital city

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, wh ...

into Mendoza city in Argentina and so carries quite heavy traffic.

Overview

From the Argentine side the route to the pass is a slow, gentle incline until entering a tunnel at approximately elevation. On the Chilean side the slope has a far higher grade, and the road descends down a long series of switchbacks to make the descent. Opened in 1980, the Tunnel of Christ the Redeemer (Spanish: Túnel Cristo Redentor) is long, and serves as an important land crossing between Chile and Argentina. At the middle of the tunnel is the national border, which is the termini of

Chile Route 60 Chile Route 60 is a main road in the Valparaíso Region of Chile that extends from Valparaíso to Paso Los Libertadores. It continues into Argentina as National Route 7, toward Mendoza. The Route 60 is made up of two separate stretches of roa ...

and Argentina Route 7. The path can be closed during winter because of heavy snows blocking both ends and the threat of

rockfall A rockfall or rock-fallWhittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, 1984. . is a quantity/sheets of rock that has fallen freely from a cliff face. The term is also used for collapse of rock from roof or walls of mi ...

. Its name comes from the four-ton '' Christ the Redeemer of the Andes'' (''Cristo Redentor de los Andes'') statue placed in 1904 near the Uspallata Pass at an elevation of . The pass was the highest point of the road before the opening of the tunnel lowered the maximum elevation by , eliminated 65 switchbacks and shortened the route by . On 19 September 2013, nearly 15,000 Chileans got stranded on the Argentine side, when the pass had to be closed for 10 hours because of freezing temperatures and between 40 and 50 centimeters of snow.

Alternative proposed tunnels

In order to ease the dependence on the only tunnel in the area and to permit year-round crossing, two lower tunnels have been proposed. One of them is the ''Túnel Juan Pablo II'' ("

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

Tunnel"), which would be constructed at an altitude of between , long, to join the towns of Horcones, Argentina and Juncal, Chile. Another proposed tunnel, named ''Paso Las Leñas'' (" Las Leñas Pass"), at an elevation of and of length, would connect El Sosneado in Argentina (near San Rafael) and

Machalí Machalí is a Chilean commune and city in Cachapoal Province, O'Higgins Region. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Machalí spans an area of and has 28,628 inhabitants (14,297 men and 14,331 women ...

, Chile. The Aconcagua Bi-Oceanic railway is a proposal for a railway base tunnel under this pass.

References

External links

Official site
of Cristo Redentor by

Argentine National Gendarmerie The Argentine National Gendarmerie ( es, Gendarmería Nacional Argentina, GNA) is the national gendarmerie force and corps of border guards of the Argentine Republic. It has a strength of 70,000. The gendarmerie is primarily a frontier guard forc ...

Tunnels in Argentina''Cristo Redentor'' Statue
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060717103915/http://www.frsr.utn.edu.ar/general.html Paso Las Leñasat UTN Facultad de San Rafael, Mendoza. {{DEFAULTSORT:Libertadores, Paso Argentina–Chile border crossings Landforms of Mendoza Province Landforms of Valparaíso Region Mountain passes of Chile Mountain passes of Argentina Mountain passes of the Andes Tunnels in Chile Tunnels in Argentina Tunnels completed in 1980 Principal Cordillera Road tunnels 1980 establishments in Argentina 1980 establishments in Chile de:Túnel del Cristo Redentor pl:Tunel Chrystusa Zbawiciela