Avenida de América
The avenue takes its name from the American continent, despite running northeast toward Aragon and France. Madrid’s city council approved the name on 24 November 1950; until then it was known as the Barajas Motorway, or simply La Pista.
The Avenida de América was born with a specific job: to carry travelers from Barajas airport to the center of Madrid without crossing the Ventas bridge or the extension of Alcalá. A new road for a city that was starting to look skyward.
It had two openings. The first was pure protocol, in May 1952, when Madrid welcomed the crown prince of Iraq. The second, the real one, came that December, when cars finally began to roll. The avenue ended up tracing the northern edge of the Guindalera neighborhood.
Why “America” is not documented with certainty. The likeliest explanation blends the Hispanist rhetoric of the Franco era with what the avenue itself promised down the line: the air link to the other side of the Atlantic, which took off precisely from Barajas.
Its names
- Autopista de Barajas / La Pistac. 1944–1950