Chile Highway 5 or Route 5 known locally as ''Ruta 5'' is

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

's longest route, . It is part of the

Pan-American Highway The Pan-American Highway is a vast network of roads that stretches about 30,000 kilometers (about 19,000 miles) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the northernmost part of North America to Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southern tip of South America. I ...

Stretch

It runs from the

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

vian border connecting with Peru Highway 1 north of Arica to Puerto Montt where it connects by ferry to the island of Chiloé. It passes through

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, the country's capital, where it is called Autopista Central.

Highway grade

From the north border with

to north of

Caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

, Ruta 5 is a two lane paved road with a speed limit of . From

to Puerto Montt, the road was upgraded to a 4-lane freeway with as speed limit, 20% faster than Chile's common maximum speed limit. The highway ends in Puerto Montt, but it divides into two routes, one crossing the Chacao Channel that separates Chiloé from the continent, reaching it´s end in Quellón, and another route named Carretera Austral (Spanish for Southern Highway) that was opened in the 1980s. The southern part of Ruta 5 crosses long extensions of native woods and important cities.

Freeway grade

South of

to Puerto Montt () it is a 4 lane divided highway and toll road for the most part. It is Chile's longest

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

. The speed limit on the freeway is and as of May 2007 drivers must travel with their lights on all day long.

Tunnels

Four tunnels are part of Route 5, namely El Melón, La Calavera I, La Calavera II and Angostura, which have lengths of , , , respectively. Each one of them carries two lanes of traffic, except El Melón Tunnel, the only tunnel that carries a lane in each direction.

References

Roads in Chile Transport in Los Lagos Region {{chile-road-stub