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Bogotá is the Colombian city with the most extensive and comprehensive network of bike paths. Bogotá’s bike paths network or Ciclorrutas de Bogotá in Spanish, designed and built during the administration of Mayors Antanas Mockus, Enrique Peñalosa and Samuel Moreno, is also one of the most extensive in the world.
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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 with streets going from south to north and from east to west. The network was also integrated with the TransMilenio bus system which has bicycle parking facilities.
Network hierarchy
A network hierarchy was determined following the criteria above.
Bike paths' impact on city life
Since the construction of the ciclorrutas, bicycle use has quintupled in the city, and it is estimated that there are between 300,000 and 400,000 trips made daily in Bogotá by bicycle. A large portion of this use is in southern, poorer areas.
The ciclorrutas 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.