Photo: city of bogota

Bogotá wins Bloomberg award for road safety

04 July 2024

by Christopher Carey

Colombia’s capital Bogotá has been recognised for its “bold actions” to protect cyclists and pedestrians through a series of tactical urban interventions.

Over the past decade, the city has implemented a number of changes to promote sustainable mobility and improve public space, including an expansion of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure which it says has reduced road crashes and pollution.

The city was recently recognised for its “exemplary road safety efforts” as one of four winners of the 2024 Bloomberg Philanthropies Excellence in Road Safety Awards.

Claudia Díaz, Secretary of Mobility, Bogota

“Using tactical urbanism strategies, Bogota has successfully transformed public spaces, revitalised underutilised areas, and redesigned road spaces for almost a decade,” Bogota’s Secretary of Mobility Claudia Díaz told Cities Today.

“Programmes such as Plazoletas and Barrios Vitales have played a crucial role in this.

“Through these strategies, new public areas are created or recovered to facilitate encounters and interactions among neighbours and visitors, enhancing road safety and the attractiveness and liveability of these areas.”

Vital Neighbourhoods

Vital Neighbourhoods or “Barrios Vitales” is a strategy to prioritise sustainable transport modes and improve access to urban spaces by limiting motorised traffic through neighbourhoods.

The programme is a key component of the city’s urban development and sustainable mobility strategy, and to date has been implemented in four neighbourhoods with plans to expand to another 29 by 2035.

The city has installed cycle infrastructure, pedestrian crossings, and temporary loading/unloading zones for deliveries, which Díaz says this has had a direct impact on reducing crashes and pollution.

“In the first Barrio Vital implemented, San Felipe, road crashes decreased by over 44 percent and air pollutant emissions fell by 37 percent,” she added.

Public transport use also increased by 81 percent in San Felipe, while there was an 82 percent increase in micromobility and bicycle use.

Results from the three other neighbourhoods are expected later this year.

Similarly through the Plazoletas programme, which launched in 2016, the city has transformed over 21,000 m2 of public space previously used for motorised traffic, parking, or logistics operations with 16 plazas now serving as social pedestrianised areas for city residents.

“Tactical urban projects are low-cost interventions that swiftly transform roads and public spaces for safer and better use,” added Díaz.

Loading zones

As part of the Barrios Vitales, the city also implemented a delivery zone strategy.

“Our field analysis phase revealed that loading and unloading activities were taking place without restrictions in front of commercial or institutional buildings, occupying space on pavements, bike paths, or shared lanes,” said Díaz.

“The challenges presented by this situation included traffic congestion, reduced road capacity, and disruptions to public transportation”

The zones give operators a time limit of 30 minutes for each drop-off/pick-up, with certain criteria used to establish locations, including the level of accessibility for freight vehicles and the clustering of commercial establishments.

The city also encourages the use of bike deliveries, night-delivery operations and vehicle size-based access control.

“Loading and unloading zones are a strategic reorganisation of public space – these strategies aim to improve traffic conditions, ensure road safety, optimise logistics operations, and minimise the environmental impact,” added Díaz.

Image: City of Bogota

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