National Route 7 (Argentina)

The Ruta Nacional 7 - since the decree 115 261 from 1942 officially also Carretera Libertador General San Martín - is one of the main east - west connections in Argentina and, together with the Ruta CH -60 is the shortest land route between the Pacific port of Valparaiso in Chile and Buenos Aires on the Atlantic.

Course

The road - connected via the crossing-free access to Autopista Perito Moreno and the Autopista 25 de Mayo directly to the center of the Argentine capital - officially begins after crossing the ring road of the capital, the Avenida General Paz It runs through the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba, San Luis and Mendoza, before moving to 1224 km in the Tunel del Cristo Redentor ends at the border of Chile.

History

Originally was already in colonial times between Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile, Camino Real del Oeste, which connected the cities of San Luis and Mendoza with these endpoints. With the construction of a railway line between Buenos Aires and Mendoza in the late 19th century, the road connection lost its importance. It was not until the advent of the automobile led to the creation in 1932 of the Dirección Nacional de Vialidad ( National Directorate for Roads ) by a decision of the National Congress. In the course of the decisions of 1935 it came to the start of construction of a road parallel to the 1910 -built line of the Ferrocarril Buenos Aires al Pacífico ( BA & P - later Ferrocarril General San Martín ( FCGSM ) ); the route has been assigned the number 7.

The attachment of the section between Chacabuco and Junín was completed in June 1942. The road between Junín and Laboulaye was changed in 1968, the south running line was opened between Rufino and Laboulaye on October 2, 1969 between Junín and Rufino, on 28 October 1969. The work on the extension of the line to the confluence of Ruta Nacional 8 near Villa Mercedes was completed in 1975. The remaining portion to Mendoza had been fixed in 1940.

The distance between Mendoza and Uspallata - the Caracoles de Villavicencio - led over 365 curves at over 3000 meters above the foothills of the Andes and was in the early sixties of the 20th century no longer cope with the growing volume of traffic at the latest. Therefore it was decided to relocate the course of the route in the valley of the Rio Mendoza. West of Uspallata, the work was substantially completed in 1979, the opening of the Tunel del Cristo Redentor in May 1980 made ​​the use of the still unpaved section between Las Cuevas and the Paso de la Cumbre obsolete.

Laguna La Picasa

Due to the increase in the level of Laguna La Picasa between 1998 and 1999, 14.5 km of road between the villages of Aaron Castellanos and Diego de Alvear were flooded on the border between the provinces of Buenos Aires and Santa Fe. For this reason vehicles had a detour of 32 km on dirt trails to travel. The lowering of the water level of the Laguna La Picasa is currently through a pumping station in Rufino, this station is to be south through another, not yet built complements the lagoon.

On 1 February 2006, work began on the reconstruction of the affected stretch of Route 7 with the embankment of a dam made ​​of basalt rock which come from a quarry in the province of San Luis. The road is raised to a level of 2 meters above the highest water level of the lagoon, the road is thus located about 6 feet above the average water level. The dam contains three passages that are spanned by each 20 meters long bridge.

The section was released on 10 June 2007 for the traffic.