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

is the city with the most extensive and comprehensive network of

bike path A bike path or a cycle 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 ...

s () in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

, with a total of as of 2022. The network was initially designed and built during the administration of

Superior Mayor of Bogotá The superior mayor of Bogotá (Alcalde Mayor de Bogotá) is the highest administrative authority of the Special District of Bogotá, and the head of the executive branch of the local government of Bogotá. The mayor heads the district's governm ...

Enrique Peñalosa Enrique Peñalosa Londoño (born 30 September 1954) is a Colombian politician. He was Mayor of Bogotá, mayor of Bogotá from 1998 until 2001 and elected again in 2015 for the 2016–2019 term. Early life and education Peñalosa was born in ...

and is one of the most extensive in the world. The design of the network took into consideration the

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

and

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

of the city. The network is integrated with the city's

TransMilenio TransMilenio is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system that serves Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, and Soacha, a neighbouring city. The system opened to the public in December 2000. As of 2024, 12 lines totalling run throughout the city. It is pa ...

bus rapid transit system.

History

Design

The design of the network took into consideration the

and

of the city; from north to south, Bogotá has a flat topography and from east to west it has varying degrees of incline. 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 orthogon ...

with streets going from south to north and from east to west. The network is also integrated with the TransMilenio bus system, which has

bicycle parking Bicycle parking is part of the cycling infrastructure of a populated place allowing for the storage of bicycles when they are not being used. Parking facilities for bicycles include racks, lockers, parking stations, and covered areas. Bicycle ...

facilities.

Network hierarchy

A network hierarchy was determined following the criteria above. * Main Network: connects the main centers 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 centers 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 in specific areas. It includes a recreational network, local networks and a system of long green areas.

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 ...

of 4.28%. A large portion of this use is in poorer southern 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

As of 2022, Bogotá had more than of bike paths with various projects under construction and design to expand the network, such as CicloAlameda Medio Milenio, Corredor Verde de la 7ma, and TransMilenio Avenida 68. As of 2023, Bogotá had of bike paths. In addition to being the most extensive city network in the Americas, it is one of the most extensive in the world.

References