Route 7 (Bolivia)

{{Short description|Highway in Bolivia}} {{Expand Spanish|topic=transp|date=July 2023}} {{Infobox road |country=BOL |type=BO |route=7 |marker_image= |established = 1954 }}

'''Route 7''' is a national road in Bolivia. Prior to its opening in 1954 western and eastern Bolivia were poorly connected. It remains the main road connecting Bolivia's montainious west with the tropical lowlands to the east.

== Route description == The road has a length of {{convert|488|km|mi}} and connects Bolivia's first and fourth largest, cities Cochabamba and Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in a northwest–southeast direction. It begins in the valley of Cochabamba at about {{convert|2500|m|ft|adj=on}} altitude, accompanies the eastern Andes chain of the Cordillera Central and finally ends at about {{convert|450|m|ft|adj=on}} altitude in Santa Cruz between the river valleys of the Piray River and the Río Grande. On its way, the road only crosses the two departments of Cochabamba and Santa Cruz.

The entire route of Route 7 is paved.

== History == The route was inaugurated on September 1954.<ref name=crucam>{{Cite thesis |title=Cruceños into Cambas: Regionalism and Revolutionary Nationalism in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia (1935-1959) |last=Pruden |first=Hernan |publisher=Stony Brook University |url=https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1713&context=stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection |page=148|year=2012|degree=PhD}}</ref> The inaguration was a major event and was attended by President of Bolivia Victor Paz Estenssoro and the United States politicians Henry F. Holland and Bourke B. Hickenlooper and journalist Drew Pearson.<ref name=crucam/>

Route 7 was declared part of the Bolivian national road network "Red Vial Fundamental" by decree 25.134 of 31 August 1998.<ref>lexivox.org [https://www.lexivox.org/norms/BO-DS-25134.xhtml Decreto Supremo N° 25134, 21 de agosto de 1998]</ref>

The Colomi bus crash took place on Route 7.<ref name="q">{{cite web|title=Accidente de un autobús deja al menos 20 muertos y 13 heridos en Bolivia|url=https://elcomercio.pe/mundo/latinoamerica/bolivia-cochabamba-accidente-de-un-autobus-deja-al-menos-20-muertos-y-13-heridos-noticia/?ref=ecr|work=El Comercio|language=es|date=2 March 2021|accessdate=3 March 2021}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Roads in Bolivia Category:1954 establishments in Bolivia