Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

is the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

city with the most extensive and comprehensive network of

bike path A bike path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "Class III bikewa ...

s with a total of 564 kilometers at year 2022. Bogotá’s bike paths network or ''Ciclorrutas de Bogotá'' in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, designed and built and is also one of the most extensive in the world. The design of the network was made taking into consideration the morphology and topography of the city. This is, from north to south the city has a flat topography and from east to west the city has varying degrees of inclination. A mesh concept was applied for the theoretical plan of the network because it presented greater versatility and adaptation given that the road network was designed as a

grid plan In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogona ...

with streets going from south to north and from east to west. The network was also integrated with the

TransMilenio TransMilenio is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system that serves Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, and Soacha. The system opened to the public in December 2000, covering Avenida Caracas, Caracas Avenue and 80 street. Other lines were added gradually ...

bus system which has

bicycle parking Bicycle parking typically requires a degree of security to prevent theft. The context for bike parking requires proper infrastructure and equipment ( bike racks, bicycle locks etc.) for secure and convenient storage. Parking facilities include l ...

facilities.

Network hierarchy

A network hierarchy was determined following the criteria above. * Main Network: connects the main centres of the city in a direct and expeditious manner, for instance connecting the main work and education centers with the most populated residential areas, and receiving the flow from secondary networks. * Secondary Network: leads riders to the main network, it connects housing centers and attraction centres and parks with the main network. * Complementary Network: links and provides continuity to the network. It consists of additional bike paths that are required to complete the mesh system and to distribute bicycle traffic on specific areas. It includes a recreational network, local networks and a system of long green areas.

Bike paths' impact on city life

Since the construction of the bike paths, bicycle use has quintupled in the city. There were 635,431 trips made daily in Bogotá by bicycle in 2015, corresponding to a

modal share A modal share (also called mode split, mode-share, or modal split) is the percentage of travelers using a particular type of transportation or number of trips using said type. In freight transportation, this may be measured in mass. Modal share i ...

of 4.28%. A large portion of this use is in southern, poorer areas. The bike paths are an ongoing project. Many segments are still not connected to the main network. In some parts, they are placed on the sidewalk in a way that puts pedestrians and cyclists in competition.

Routes

• Year 2016

• Year 2022

Bogotá currently has 564 kilometers of bike paths and various projects under construction and design to expand this network, such as "CicloAlameda Medio Milenio", "Corredor Verde de la 7ma" and "Transmilenio Avenida 68".

References