The Ciclovía - Bogota's Weekly Street Party
by Jesse Fox, Tel Aviv, Israel on 12.21.07
A cross between a street party and a marathon, Bogota's Ciclovía manages to combine sport, recreation, health, commerce and culture in one free package. Every Sunday, some 70 miles of the city's roads are closed to vehicle traffic and turned over to its citizens, who come out in droves to walk, jog, skate and especially bike.
In this excellent video, city employees and residents talk about their enthusiasm for the project, and its planners share some behind the scenes info about the process of setting up and running the Ciclovía and the thought behind it.
Bogotá is known worldwide for its successful transportation policies, especially its Bus Rapid Transit system, the Transmilenio. The man credited for Bogotá’s transformation is former mayor, Enrique Peñalosa. Watch an interview with him here.
And just for fun, here is another video that shows the wonders of progressive transportation planning (notice the separated bike and bus lanes), this time in Copenhagen, Denmark, where planners want half of the commuter population to get to school or work on bike by 2015.
