El Avión Roundabout and Maracay Obelisk

The city of Maracay has a set of streets and avenues like any other city in the world, I would say that it has nothing special in that aspect. The traffic here is usually quite smooth with the exception of rush hour when it undoubtedly increases, but it is nothing to be alarmed about, after a few minutes the traffic jams disappear and everything returns to normal. In previous years it was not like that, there was a bad urban planning and in that sense it did generate large lines of vehicles in which you could lose a couple of hours of your day, but that was gradually disappearing thanks to the measures that have been implemented with the intention of reducing traffic, it has not been anything fast, but it has been achieved.

There are two important elements in the life of city dwellers that serve as reference points for meetings or to point out directions, in addition, they are places that are transited daily by the majority of citizens who move around the city since they have strategic locations in the most important avenues, I am talking specifically about the El Avión Roundabout and the Maracay Obelisk, both fulfill the function of distributing to the busiest avenues to those who go from south to north of the city or vice versa.

Next, you will see images of The Airplane Roundabout, the English translation would be The Airplane Roundabout and it owes its name to the fact that Maracay apart from being considered the garden city of Venezuela, is also considered the cradle of aviation in Venezuela, here there are two airports (both military airports) which have some strategic importance. This Roundabout connects Los Aviadores Avenue with Maracay Avenue, it also gives access and exit to the regional highway of the center which is one of the most important road arteries of the center of the country, through it you can reach important cities such as Valencia and Caracas, which is the capital of the country.

In another time this roundabout had much more greenery in the grass and trees, I think the governmental entities have neglected it a little and only try to do the bare minimum to make it presentable, believe me it used to be much nicer. However, there are still beautiful bushes of different types and colors, there are also some palm trees and of course the iconic Saman tree that provides very good shade.

In the following photos you will see the most important element of this roundabout, in the center is a Venezuelan air force plane which is elevated by a large column. I don't know the model of this plane, but it is a small one with a propeller on the tip.

Less than 3 kilometers from El Avión Roundabout is the Maracay Obelisk, another roundabout that in dimension is smaller, but no less important. It owes its name to the obelisk, a monument in the form of a pillar, which is located in the center of the roundabout, in other times it was also better preserved and the water fountains worked perfectly. This roundabout connects important avenues such as Maracay Avenue and Bolivar Avenue, it also gives access to Constitution Avenue and José Casanova Godoy Avenue. This place is much busier than the previous one since it is surrounded by several housing developments and commercial areas.

On one side of the obelisk there is a monument with a tiger lying on a base which has an inscription that reads: “Maracay, crossroads of all roads, a compass rose open to all wills”, the name of the city is also visible on all four sides of the monument.

So these are the most striking road elements of my city. I think this is the first time I share a post of this style, I wasn't sure about doing it, but I hope it has added something to the community. See you soon, greetings!