9 de Julio Avenue: The Widest Street in the World
9 de Julio Avenue (or Avenida 9 de Julio, in the local tongue)
in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina, is not just any street. Nine lanes
wide, with gardened medians between the opposing flow of traffic, this
is the widest street in the world. Only those with a quick pace and long
legs will be lucky to get to the other side before the traffic lights
at the intersection changes. A pedestrian crossing this street usually
requires a few extra minutes and two to three traffic light rotations. 9
de Julio Avenue is only 1 km long but 110 meters wide.
The
avenue's unusual width is because it spans an entire city block, the
distance between two streets in the checkerboard pattern used in Buenos
Aires. The avenue runs to the west of the Río de la Plata waterfront,
from the Retiro district in the north to Constitución station in the
south. It has up to seven lanes in each direction and is flanked on
either side by parallel streets of two lanes each.
The street
runs far in both directions and connects the unique sections of the
metropolis. Some of Buenos Aires’ main landmarks can be seen along the
way; most notably, the Obelisk, that sits in the middle of 9 de Julio,
the original French Embassy, the statue of Don Quixote, the Teatro Colon
and the former Ministry of Communications building - the only building
that sits on the avenue itself at the intersection with Moreno street.
The
avenue was first planned in 1888, with the name of Ayohuma; but the
road was long opposed by affected landlords and residents, so work did
not start until 1935. Even the French government refused to submit the
embassy building for demolition, and local preservationists opposed the
move as well, as the building is widely hailed as an architectural
masterpiece. The initial phase was inaugurated on 9 July 1937 and the
main stretch of the avenue was completed in the 1960s. The southern
connections were completed after 1980, when the downtown portion of the
tollway system was completed. Clearing the right-of-way for these
intersections required massive condemnations in the Constitución area.
