Avenida Arequipa

Arequipa Avenue (Spanish: Avenida Arequipa), formerly known as Leguía Avenue (Spanish: Avenida Leguía), is one of the main avenues of Lima, Peru. It extends from north to south in the districts of Lima, Lince, San Isidro and Miraflores along 52 blocks. It has a bike path located along its entire central berm.[1]

Avenida Arequipa
The avenue seen from Villarán Freyre bridge
Former name(s)Leguía (1919–1930)
De la Revolución (1930)
NamesakeArequipa
Augusto Leguía (1919–1930)
1930 Coup d'état (1930)
FromAvenida 28 de Julio
Major
junctions		Avenida Javier Prado
ToÓvalo de Miraflores
Construction
InaugurationJuly 28, 1921 (1921-07-28)
Other
DesignerAugusto Benavides Diez Canseco

Before the implementation of the SIT, the avenue was the seventh most congested road in Lima due to the excessive circulation of public transport units.[2]

History

The avenue began to be opened at the beginning of the 20th century as a dividing avenue between the Campo de Marte and the Parque de la Reserva. In its beginnings, it was the road that linked Lima with the resorts of Barranco and Miraflores. It was designed by the Peruvian architect Augusto Benavides Diez Canseco.[3]

Leguía Avenue
The avenue in the late 1920s.

During the government of Augusto B. Leguía, the avenue was officially inaugurated during the Centennial of the Independence of Peru, on July 28, 1921, coinciding with the centenary of independence. The avenue had been paved and fixed, with a large central garden. The president named this avenue after himself and its construction was coupled with the comprehensive remodeling that took place in Lima.

In its first block was the Arco Morisco, a donation from the Spanish community residing in Peru. This arch was later demolished and a replica of it was built in the district of Santiago de Surco in the Parque de la Amistad María Graña Ottone, located at the intersection of Alfredo Benavides and Caminos del Inca avenues.

Leguía Avenue was created as an integrating axis with the Miraflores balneario,[4] which was already growing as a town, and as a guideline to guide the urban expansion that the capital city was experiencing. Its physiognomy full of gardens and large houses marked it as one of the most aristocratic roads in the city, although a large part of its route still took place between fields of crops.

Arequipa Avenue

After the overthrow of Leguía by Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro, the avenue was named Avenida de la Revolución.[5] However, due to its insurgent character, it was decided to rename the avenue, but this time with the name of the city from where the Sánchez Cerro uprising was led: Arequipa.[6][7]

In 1955, the first urban overpass in Peru was built, the Eduardo Villarán Freyre bridge, named after a mayor of the San Isidro district, located at the intersection with Javier Prado avenue, an artery that divides into its two main segments Javier Prado Este and Javier Prado Oeste. Coupled with this, there was a modernization of its central berm, incorporating the first cycle path that is maintained to this day.

In 1959, Panamericana Televisión, one of the most emblematic channels of Peruvian television, would be inaugurated in the Santa Beatriz area.

But over the years, the large houses gradually disappeared and the residential air of the avenue was replaced by a large commercial activity among which the educational offer stands out since the avenue houses a large number of pre-university academies, regular schools, institutes of higher education and even universities.[8]

In 2014, the first complementary bus corridor was implemented, which eliminated the circulation of public transport routes along this avenue.

Route

It starts at 28 de Julio avenue, following the line of Garcilaso de la Vega avenue, to which it is connected through an underground overpass. In its first block is the Embassy of Argentina. In its first blocks, the buildings of residential architecture stand out but with an eminently commercial current use. The residence of the ambassador of the United States and the eastern fence of the Parque de la Reserva stand out in block 5. In this first section, the embassy of Venezuela, the Superior Court of Military Justice, the Benemérita Sociedad Fundadores de la Independencia, almost all the faculties of the Technological University of Peru and the Norbert Wiener University also stand out. In Miraflores, the avenue passed across the Casa Marsano.

The avenue ends in the Miraflores roundabout, at the intersection with Av. Ricardo Palma, José Pardo, Larco and Diagonal, giving rise to the Miraflores Central Park.

References
  1. "Ciclovías en crisis: vaivenes municipales debilitan el pedaleo". El Comercio. 2014-02-15.
  2. Rodríguez, Sabrina (2013-02-21). "¿Cuáles son las avenidas más saturadas de Lima?". Publimetro. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02.
  3. Amaral, Aracy A. (1994). Arquitectura neocolonial: América Latina, Caribe, Estados Unidos (in Spanish). Fondo de Cultura Económica de España, S.L. ISBN 978-85-85373-08-5.
  4. "Historia de la Morfología Urbana de Lima". Asociación Latinoamericana de Estudiantes de Geografía. Archived from the original on 2009-02-17.
  5. "Bicentenario del Perú: conoce la historia de la avenida Arequipa, una de las vías más tradicionales de Lima". Panamericana Televisión. 2021-07-09.
  6. "La Avenida Arequipa: Historia y Potencial Inmobiliario". Ciudad+.
  7. Orrego Penagos, Juan Luis (2011-04-03). "La avenida Leguía (hoy Arequipa)". Blog PUCP.
  8. "Avenida Arequipa, la historia de una de las principales arterias de Lima y cómo se convirtió en una vía de vida saludable". Infobae. 2022-09-16.
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