Autovía 2 Juan Manuel Fangio (also known as Provincial Route 2, formerly National Route 2) is an Argentine dual carriageway, which runs from Buenos Aires to Mar del Plata. The road was a National Route until 1990 when it was transferred to the Government of Buenos Aires Province. The Autovía 2 extends from the junction of Provincial Routes 1 and 36 and National Route A004, just on the traffic circle "Juan María Gutiérrez", which is the limit of Berazategui and Florencio Varela districts.
Autovía 2 has two toll booths, one in Samborombón and another in Maipú. The entire road is currently managed by State-owned company "Autopistas de Buenos Aires S.A.", also known for its acronym "AUBASA". More than 30 fuel stations are placed on the route in its entirety. The route has also numerous phone posts to call in case of emergency. Another service is an FM radio station which gives reports about the conditions of the route.
Almost all the intersections with other roads are level crossings, without bridges to prevent accidents. There are also two railroad level crossings with General Roca Railway tracks.
Overview
This autovía has a North-South direction. It begins in the Rotonda Gutiérrez, where many important roads converge: Provincial Route 36, National Route A004, which connects to NR 1 (also known as Autopista Buenos Aires-La Plata), the fastest option to access to the city of Buenos Aires. There is a bridge over the traffic circle that joins the NR A004 with Autovía 2.
Some interesting points are the Chascomús Lake (distant 300m from the Autovía), the Autódromo Roberto José Mouras (a motor racing circuit named in memory of a famous Argentine racer), the industrial park of La Plata and the Chis-Chis Lake, famous for its fishing activities. In the city of Lezama the Autovía becomes an urban street, crossing the center of the city along the railroad station. After passing Lezama the Autovía becomes a road again.
At the south of Salado River, the route passes near to Estancia Villa La Raquel, a huge land with a castle built by the Guerrero family in Castelli Partido during the 19th century. This property is currently used for tourism Autovía 2 also passes near to the city of Dolores, next to Autódromo Ciudad de Dolores. At the south of General Guido, in the km 251, there is a railroad crossing with the General Roca branch-line to General Madariaga, although the service has been inactive since 2015, due to flooding of the Salado River.
In the city of Maipú, town's streets converge to the route. In Estación Camet, the urban zone of Mar del Plata begins. The road then passes Astor Piazzolla International Airport and after a traffic circle in km 400, the Autovía becomes a boulevard. Between this point and the end of the road, there is another new railroad crossing.
History
The beginning
Bullock carts ("Carretas" in Spanish) travelled by a road extended from Buenos Aires to the Salado River at the end of the 18th century. When rivers and streams were in flood, carts had to stop to continue moving later. During that period of time, the "pulperías" (gauchos' typical bars in Buenos Aires Province erected next to the roads), were used by travellers to have a drink and rest until the road was passable again. The most used pass to cross the Salado River was "La Postrera", at 5 km from the current Autovía.
Railroad (then Ferrocarril del Sud, which had taken over the construction of the line) reached the city of Chascomús for the first time in 1865, then expanding to Dolores in 1874, Maipú in 1880 until it finally reached Mar del Plata in 1886
The opening of Mar del Plata station ended with the use of charts for the moving of people and merchandise, due to train offered a faster trip which did not depend on weather conditions to be realized.
Dirt road
The dirt road from Buenos Aires to Mar del Plata was built by Touring Club Argentino around 1910. This path was different from today, so the road crossed the cities of Avellaneda, Quilmes and Florencio Varela through General Belgrano Road, which was cobbled between 1912 and 1916.
Using this road (which conditions used to get worse when it rained), the vehicles took almost 2 days to reach Mar del Plata from Buenos Aires.
The longest bridges on the road were those that crossed Samborombón and Salado rivers. The bridge over Samborombón was an unstable structure built by Automóvil Club Argentino and the second one was famous bridge "La Postrera", made of iron in 1917 by Engineer Luis Huergo. This bridge was 170m long.
In 2005 the bridge over Salado River was quit and replaced by another made of concrete, which was 275m long.