National Route 25 is a 534-kilometer-long paved

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

that runs through the center of

Chubut Province Chubut ( from Tehuelche language, Tehuelche 'transparent'; ) is a provinces of Argentina, province in southern Argentina, situated between the 42nd parallel south (the border with Río Negro Province), the 46th parallel south (bordering Santa ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. It extends from the juncture with National Route 40 in

Tecka Tecka is a town in Chubut Province, Argentina, located south of Esquel and around west of Rawson along National Route 25. It is the seat of the Languiñeo Department. History Tecka was a winter settlement of nomadic indigenous peoples, espec ...

to the bridge on the

Chubut River The Chubut River (; ; ) is located in the Patagonia region of southern Argentina. Its name comes from the Tehuelche word , which means 'transparent'. The Argentine Chubut Province, through which the river flows, is named after it. Welsh settle ...

in the city of Rawson. The highway crosses the

Patagonian Steppe The Patagonian Desert, also known as the Patagonian Steppe, is the largest desert in Argentina and is the list of deserts by area, eighth-largest desert in the world by area, occupying approx. 673,000 square kilometres (260,000 mi2). It is l ...

, joining sparsely populated areas.

History

This route was established by the

Tehuelche people The Tehuelche people, also called the Aónikenk, are an Indigenous people from eastern Patagonia in South America. In the 18th and 19th centuries the Tehuelche were influenced by Mapuche people, and many adopted a horseriding lifestyle. Once a ...

to journey between the coasts in the winter and the Andes in the summer. The route borders the

, which is the only source of

potable Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

water on the journey. After the establishment of Welsh colonies in the valley below, and encouraged by news sent from the Andes by Wisel (also spelled Huisel, Wissale or Wishel) and then by other

cacique A cacique, sometimes spelled as cazique (; ; feminine form: ), was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, who were the Indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles at the time of European cont ...

s, John Daniel Evans ventured on this route in late 1885 together with Governor

Luis Jorge Fontana Luis Jorge Fontana (April 19, 1846, in Buenos Aires, Argentina – October 18, 1920, in San Juan, Argentina, San Juan, Argentina) was an Argentine military officer, explorer, geographer, writer, and politician. He was the first governor of the n ...

in an expedition called Riflemen of Chubut (''Rifleros del Chubut''). Years later and after a second expedition, Evans guided the first group of colonists to definitively establish themselves in the mountain range, linking the coast and the October 16 Colony (''Colonia 16 de Octubre'') (renamed

Trevelin Trevelin (; ) is a town in the western part of the Patagonian Argentine province of Chubut. The town lies on the eastern banks of the (). It is located in the department of Futaleufú, south of Esquel, and had 6,395 inhabitants at the time ...

in 1918) on November 20, 1888. The crossing of the Chubut River was made by raft until the construction of a bridge in 1957-1958. On September 7, 2004, the National Highway Authority ('' Dirección Nacional de Vialidad'') and Provincial Highway Authority ('' Administración de Vialidad Provincial'') signed an agreement exchanging Provincial Route 62 between Tecka and Pampa de Agnia (paved between 1974 and 1976) for National Route 25 (unpaved) between Pampa de Agnia and National Route 40 (marked in green on the map). This agreement was ratified by Provincial Law 5486 promulgated on May 31, 2006.
Provincial Law 5486

Route description

National Route 25 passes through the following towns (from east to west): *Rawson (km 0-1) *

Trelew Trelew (, from "town" and the name of the founder, Lewis Jones) is a city in the eastern part of the Chubut Province of Argentina, 21km away from the coast. Located in Patagonia, the city is the largest and most populous in the low valley of the ...

(km 17) * Gaiman (km 38) *

Dolavon Dolavon ( Welsh: ''Dolafon'') is a small town in the Patagonian province of Chubut, Argentina. It had a population of 2,929 according to the . It is located close to the Chubut River, about to the west of Gaiman. The name comes from Welsh '' ...

(km 56) *

Las Plumas Las Plumas ( Welsh: ''Dôl y Plu'') is a village in Chubut Province, Argentina. Located in the ''valle de los Mártires'', it is the head town of the Mártires Department. It was established in 1921, and from 1928 to 1961 the main station of th ...

(km 205) * Los Altares (km 309) * Paso de Indios (km 365) *Tecka (km 534)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:National Route 025 (Argentina) National roads in Chubut Province