Maldonado Stream

The Maldonado Stream, (Arroyo Maldonado) is an underground stream in the city Buenos Aires, Argentina, that runs below Juan B. Justo Ave., and goes through 10 of the 47 barrios of the city: Versalles, Liniers, Villa Luro, Vélez Sarsfield, Floresta, Villa Santa Rita, Villa Mitre, Caballito, Villa Crespo and Palermo.

The Maldonado Stream was one of the natural limits of the city, before the Belgrano and Flores neighbourhoods incorporated. Its named after the legend of La Maldonado, a woman that came with Pedro de Mendoza in 1536, and was abandoned in the plain, on the margins of the stream.

The stream became a garbage dump. In the rainy season it became a big lake of dirty water and was dangerous because of its overflows. The authorities decided to tube the stream, as a final solution to all the problems that caused in a growing city. In 1929 excavations started. After this important work that occupied hundreds of workers and machinery, the second phase started: a real feat of engineering, that consisted of rising columns to support a gigantic slab. It was the most transcendent work ever constructed in Buenos Aires at that time. It was designed by Obras Sanitarias de la Nación, as a part of a broader drainage system in the city.

After the tubing, a large packed soil road was erected over the stream and in 1936, Juan B. Justo Ave. was built over it.