La Gran Vía, as the Gran Vía Juan Carlos I avenue is popularly known and abbreviated, it is located bordering the old town, in the center of Logroño, separating the old and modern parts of the city.
It was build after the disappearance of the first railway station in Logroño in 1958. It shapes the urban axis and brings together a very important commercial and business area.
The layout of the current avenue follows the route along which the railway line passed until the end of the 1950s. The idea of a great avenue arose in 1955, when Julio Pernas was mayor of the city, but it was not until 1963 that the route was defined, with a width of 46 meters, spread over a central 12-meter road and two lateral ones.
On the Gran Vía is the Fuente de los Riojanos Ilustres (Fountain of the Illustrious Riojanos), inaugurated in 1999.
A total remodeling of the avenue was carried out between 2006 and 2007. This works added two roundabouts and an elliptical square at the height of the Torre de Logroño.
In 2008, the monument to the famous Gorgorito was inaugurated, a puppet of a seven-year-old boy, simple and intelligent, much loved by the people of Logroño and who was popularized by Maese Villarejo’s company.
