9 de Julio Avenue
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Avenida 9 de Julio is an avenue in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Its name honors Argentina's Independence Day. (July 9, 1816). It is claimed to be the widest avenue in the world[citation needed].
The avenue runs roughly one kilometer to the west of the Río de la Plata waterfront, from the Retiro district in the north to Constitución station in the south. The avenue has six lanes in each direction.
The northern end of the avenue is connected to the Arturo Illia expressway (which connects to Jorge Newbery airport and the Pan-American highway) and to Libertador avenue. The southern end is connected to the 25 de Mayo tollway (serving the West side of Greater Buenos Aires as well as Ezeiza airport) and the 9 de Julio elevated expressway which provides access to the two main southbound roads out of the city (route 1 to La Plata and route 2 to Mar del Plata).
The main landmarks along the avenue are, north to south:
- French Embassy: 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. See this article (Spanish) for detail.
- Teatro Colón
- The western end of the Lavalle pedestrian street (the former strip of movie theaters)
- The Obelisk and Plaza de la República
- Statue of Don Quixote in the intersection with Avenida de Mayo
- The former Ministry of Communications building (the only building sitting on the avenue itself), in the intersection with Moreno street.
- Constitución station and Plaza Constitución
The avenue's unusual width is due to the fact that it spans an entire city block, the distance between two streets in the checkerboard pattern used in Buenos Aires. The distance between adjacent streets is roughly 110 meters, greater than the equivalent distance in Manhattan, New York, USA. The street flanking 9 de Julio to the east is called Carlos Pellegrini (north of Rivadavia) and Bernardo de Irigoyen (south of Rivadavia). The street flanking 9 de Julio to the west is called Cerrito (north of Rivadavia) and Lima (south of Rivadavia).
The avenue was first planned in 1888 with the name of Ayohuma, but works did not start until 9 July 1937. 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.
Line C of the Buenos Aires Metro runs for a stretch under the avenue. Line A, Line B, Line D, and Line E have stations when their course intersects the avenue. Notably, lines B, C, and D share a station underneath the Obelisk, which is the focal point of the subway system and features a commercial gallery which also serves as an underpass. The respective station names are Carlos Pellegrini, Diagonal Norte, and 9 de Julio.
Crossing the avenue at street level often requires a few minutes, as all intersections have traffic lights. Under normal walking speed, it takes pedestrians normally two to three green lights to cross it. Some urban planners have submitted projects to move the central part of the avenue underground, to alleviate the perceived "chasm" between both sides of the avenue.
