9 de Julio Avenue

July 9 Avenue, located in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is the widest avenue in the world. Its name honors Argentina's Independence Day, July 9, 1816.

The avenue runs roughly 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) 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 up to seven lanes in each direction and is flanked on either side by parallel streets of two lanes each. Through the centre of the avenue runs one of the city's Metrobus (Buenos Aires) (Bus rapid transit) corridors, which stretches 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) and was inaugurated in July 2013. There are two wide medians between the side streets and the main road.

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 Republic Square is located on the intersection of this Avenue with the Corrientes Avenue and on that point is sited the Obelisk of Buenos Aires.

The idea of constructing July 9 Avenue (La Avenida 9 de Julio) was proposed during the time of Mayor Francisco Seeber (1889-1890). It was hoped to be like an artery that crossed through from the north to the south, connecting the two. Later it was included in diverse plans and projects, but it wasn’t until 1912 that it passed the National Law 8.855 that authorized the municipality to carry it out. It was intended for public use within the blocks between the streets of Cerrito and Lima and Carlos Pellegrini to Bernardo de Irigoyen, from the Paseo de Julio (Avenida del Libertador) to Brazil (Barrio de Constitución) with the goal of constructing a 33-meter-wide central avenue, flanked with two wide streets and by public or private buildings of characterized style and special architecture built on the resulting land. The sale would be part of the financial funds along with the loan issued by the local government of 25 million gold pesos. This money would come directly from the income of the local government and with a 10% of direct contribution from the nation. If the central part corresponded well with the north-south axis, the project would complement the streets running from east to west and having two round-abouts: one located at the intersection of May Avenue (Avenida de Mayo) and the other at the intersection of Corrientes (Corrientes Avenue).

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