![Cartel de distancias en Abra del Acay](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Cartel_de_distancias_en_Abra_del_Acay.jpg)
National Route 40, also known as RN40 or "Ruta 40", is a
route
Route or routes may refer to:
* Route (gridiron football), a path run by a wide receiver
* route (command), a program used to configure the routing table
* Route, County Antrim, an area in Northern Ireland
* ''The Route'', a 2013 Ugandan film
* Ro ...
in western
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 ...
, stretching from Punta Loyola near
Rio Gallegos
Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil.
Rio or Río may also refer to:
Geography Brazil
* Rio de Janeiro
* Rio do Sul, a ...
in
Santa Cruz Province in the south to
La Quiaca
La Quiaca is a small city in the north of the , on the southern bank of the La Quiaca River, opposite the town of Villazón, Bolivia. It lies at the end of National Route 9, from San Salvador de Jujuy (the provincial capital), and at an altitude ...
in
Jujuy Province
Jujuy is a province of Argentina, located in the extreme northwest of the country, at the borders with Chile and Bolivia. The only neighboring Argentine province is Salta to the east and south.
Geography
There are three main areas in Jujuy:
...
in the north. The route parallels 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 ...
mountains. The southern part of the route, by now largely paved, has become a well-known
adventure tourism
Adventure travel is a type of niche tourism, involving exploration or travel with a certain degree of risk (real or perceived), and which may require special skills and physical exertion. In the United States, adventure tourism has grown in r ...
journey, and there are plans to pave the whole road.
RN40 is the longest route in Argentina and one of the longest in the world alongside such routes as
U.S. Route 66
U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The h ...
, Canada's
Trans-Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway (French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean on ...
, and Australia's
Stuart Highway
Stuart Highway is a major Australian highway. It runs from Darwin, in the Northern Territory, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta in South Australia; a distance of . Its northern and southern extremities are segments of Aus ...
,
[ more than long. At its traditional southern end near the city of ]Río Gallegos
Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil.
Rio or Río may also refer to:
Geography Brazil
* Rio de Janeiro
* Rio do Sul, a ...
, it starts at sea level. It then crosses 20 national parks
A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...
, 18 major rivers, and 27 passes in the Andes. Route 40's highest point is in Abra del Acay in Salta Province.
The road crosses the provinces of Santa Cruz, Chubut, Río Negro, Neuquen, Mendoza, San Juan, La Rioja
La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, an ...
, Catamarca, Tucumán, Salta, and Jujuy.
Description
Incorporation of sections of other highways into RN40, along with paving, is part of an Argentine government initiative to promote national tourism by drawing upon the legendary and some say mythical attraction attached to the route. The attraction is international in scope, and many websites around the world advertise the private and commercial adventures associated with travel on this roadway.
There are a number of internationally important sites along this route. Cueva de las Manos
Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of the Hands or Cave of Hands) is a cave and complex of rock art sites in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, south of the town of Perito Moreno. It is named for the hundreds of paintings of hands ste ...
contains cave art dating back some 13,000 years. Los Glaciares National Park
Los Glaciares National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Los Glaciares) is a federal protected area in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina.
The park covers an area of , making it the largest national park in the country.
Established on 11 May 1937, it host ...
, the second largest national park in Argentina, and the Calchaquí Valleys also are near the route.
North
RN40 begins at the Bolivian border at La Quiaca. From there it goes west to San Juan de Oro, then turns south, parallel to the Andes, by San Antonio de los Cobres
San Antonio de los Cobres is a small town of population 5,482 (per the 2001 INDEC census) in northwestern Argentina. It is the capital of the Los Andes Department of the Salta Province.
Geography
The town is known for its high elevation of app ...
and Cachi and through the Calchaquí Valleys to Cafayate, then via Belén, Villa Unión
Villa Unión is a city in northwestern Argentina and the main settlement of Coronel Felipe Varela Department with a population of 12,263.
Overview
The city is strategically located in the heart of the Bermejo Valley, 1,153 meters above sea leve ...
to San Juan. From San Juan, RN40 is a busy highway to Mendoza.
South
From Mendoza, RN40 continues south to Pareditas, Malargüe
Malargüe () is a city in the southwest part of province of Mendoza, Argentina, about 370 km south of the provincial capital Mendoza. It is the head town of the Malargüe Department, and it has about 27,000 inhabitants as per the .
Overvie ...
, Chos Malal, and Zapala
Zapala is a city and touristic destination in the Patagonian province of Neuquén, Argentina with about 32,000 inhabitants according to the .
The city is located at the geographic center of the province at the confluence of national and provincia ...
. It takes a route to the east of Bariloche
San Carlos de Bariloche, usually known as Bariloche (), is a city in the province of Río Negro, Argentina, situated in the foothills of the Andes on the southern shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake. It is located within the Nahuel Huapi National Park ...
to El Maitén and a junction with RN258 at Leleque. It then passes near Esquel
Esquel is a town in the northwest of Chubut Province in Argentine Patagonia. It is located in Futaleufú Department, of which it is the government seat. The town's name derives from one of two Tehuelche words: one meaning "marsh" and the other ...
and continues by Tecka, José de San Martín
José Francisco de San Martín y Matorras (25 February 177817 August 1850), known simply as José de San Martín () or '' the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru'', was an Argentine general and the primary leader of the southern and centr ...
, and Alto Río Senguer to a junction with the RN43 at the town of Perito Moreno.
The road then enters the most remote part of its route. south of Perito Moreno is the junction with a side road to Cueva de las Manos, and farther is the tiny settlement of Bajo Caracoles (population 100).[South American Handbook 2009,p.247] After a further , there is a junction with the road to Perito Moreno National Park
Perito Moreno National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Perito Moreno) is a national park in Argentina. It is located in the western region of Santa Cruz Province on the border with Chile. It has an area of 126,830 hectares of mountains and valleys at ...
, but there is no habitation apart from a police station and later an estancia until the small town of Tres Lagos, some further south. From Tres Lagos, the road is paved to a junction east of El Calafate
El Calafate, also known as ''Calafate'', is a city in Patagonia, Argentina. It is situated on the southern border of Lake Argentino, in the southwest part of the Santa Cruz Province (Argentina), Santa Cruz Province, about northwest of Río Galleg ...
and another junction at El Cerrito, where RN40 leaves the main highway to Rio Gallegos. The route then takes a roundabout route to Rio Gallegos through the town of 28 de Noviembre, where it turns east to follow the valley of the Gallegos River
The Gallegos River () is a river in the Argentine province of Santa Cruz, on whose estuary lies Río Gallegos city, capital of the province. Given that its basin reaches only the fringes of the Andes mountains it classifies as a sub-Andean r ...
. It reaches the Atlantic coast at Punta Loyola, at the mouth of the Gallegos River from Rio Gallegos.
History
Since the beginning of its construction in 1935, the route has changed several times. On 24 November 2004, the Argentine national directorate of highways (Dirección Nacional de Vialidad) promulgated Resolution 1.748/04, which changed the milestone markings and placed the "zero" kilometer stone at the new southernmost extreme of the road, at Cabo Virgenes, near the Straits of Magellan. Because in January 2009 there was no roadway constructed between the new marker location at Cabo Virgenes and Punta Loyola (near Río Gallegos), the provisional driving starting point as of early 2009 was at the KM 100 location.
Before 2004, RN40 was divided into "Ruta 40 Sur" (south) and "Ruta 40 Norte" (north) with the earlier "traditional" zero-km starting point at the intersection of San Martín and Garibaldi streets in the city of Mendoza, in Mendoza Province. That zero-km marker was subsequently moved to the eastern access point of that city, at the intersection of RN7 and Gob Avenue. Ricardo Videla (also known as Avenida Costanera). The intent of new legislation and remarking of roadways will move the traditional northern terminus of RN40 to the frontier with Bolivia near the location of Ciénaga de Paicone.
Latest developments
On 20 May 2006, the Argentine national highway directorate and the Jujuy provincial highway department signed an agreement in which sections of Jujuy provincial highways 85, 70, 74, 7, 64, 65, and 5 were transferred to national control for the construction of the so-called "Mining Corridor", which will become the new path of RN40, more toward the west in that province. The agreement was ratified by provincial law 5520. Accordingly, the section of the road between San Antonio de los Cobres and Abra Pampa is renamed National Route 1V40.
In February 2009, President Cristina Kirchner
Cristina is a female given name, and it is also a surname. Notable people with the name include:
Given name
*Cristina (daughter of Edward the Exile), 11th-century English princess
*Cristina (singer), Cristina Monet-Palaci (1956–2020), American s ...
announced that the remaining unpaved length of the route in Santa Cruz would be paved.[
]
Gallery
File:Ruta-40-Northern-Argentina.jpg, Interesting geology on Ruta 40, N Argentina
File:Graves-along-ruta-40.jpg, Graves along Ruta 40
File:Ruta-40-empty.jpg, Expansive landscape on Ruta 40 in Northern Argentina
File:Ruta-40-klr.jpg, Ruta 40 and a Kawasaki KLR 650
File:Ruta40grave.jpg, Gauchito Gil altar
File:Ruta 40 near Bariloche (Argentina).jpg, Ruta 40 near Bariloche (Argentina)
File:Ruta 40 (Argentina).jpg, Ruta 40 near Bajo Caracoles
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Route 040 (Argentina)
National roads in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina
National roads in Chubut Province
National roads in Río Negro Province
National roads in Neuquén Province
National roads in Mendoza Province
National roads in San Juan Province, Argentina
National roads in La Rioja Province, Argentina
National roads in Catamarca Province
National roads in Tucumán Province
National roads in Salta Province
National roads in Jujuy Province