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Ciclovía

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Ciclovía (also ciclovia or cyclovia) is a Spanish term, meaning "bike path," used in Latin America to mean either a permanent designated bicycle route or a temporary event closing of the street to automobiles to allow dominance by other users. Permanent designated bicycle lanes are also known as ciclo-rutas, while streets temporarily closed for that purpose are always called ciclovías.

Origins in Colombia

Colombia has the biggest events. Every Sunday and holiday the main streets of Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, and other municipalities, are blocked off for the event to become Carfree. From 7 am to 2 pm, runners, skaters and bicyclists take over the streets. At the same time, stages are set up in city parks. Aerobics instructors, yoga teachers and musicians lead people through various performances. The largest is Bogotá with 2 million people attending (30% of citizens) on over 120km of carfree streets.

One of the main reasons cited by government is to promote physical activity and health. There are other obvious social and cultural benefits from using the public space as an open meeting area. There are also environmental benefits in terms of cleaner air and increased safety.

Ciclovías happen in many cities but the inspiration is credited to Bogotá. The events have taken place since 1976. Some credit Bogotá Mayor Hernando Duran Dusan with starting Ciclovías in the early 1980s. Mayor Enrique Peñalosa deserves some credit for turning Bogotá into a safe cycling city by taking on the dominance of automobiles in the late 1990s.

In 2007, a Colombian congressman, Rep. José Fernando Castro Caycedo, proposed a law restricting the hours of Ciclovias all over the country to between 5 a.m. and 12 noon, charging that it caused traffic jams. Ciclovia users protested the change, and received support from ex-mayor Peñalosa and current mayor Samuel Moreno, as well as several members of the city council and other congressmembers. As of June, 2008 the proposal appeared headed for defeat.

While he was speaking during the congressional public hearing on the issue, Rep. Castro, a heavy smoker, suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, collapsed, and died later that day. [1]

Ciclovía in other countries

United States

El Paso, Texas ran a ciclovía each Sunday in May 2007.[2] The program has since been renamed Scenic Sundays (the events occur on Scenic Drive) and runs April through August.[3]

Las Cruces, New Mexico started holding ciclovîas on the last Sunday of each month, starting in March 2008. They are held at the city's Meerscheidt Recreation Center.[4] Activities include biking, walking, dance, Wii, Bungee Run, aerobics, and weight training.[5] The Las Cruces ciclovías are put on by a partnership of the New Mexico Department of Health, New Mexico State University's Southern Area Health Education Center, the Cooperative Extension Service from NMSU's College of Agriculture and Home Economics, the City of Las Cruces, Southern New Mexico Diabetes Outreach, and the Doña Ana County Diabetes Action Coalition.[6][7]

Chicago is planning a ciclovia for two Sundays in October, 2008.[8]

Portland, Oregon is hoping to begin ciclovia, called "Sunday Parkways", having undertaken their first one on June 22, 2008.[9]

New York City ran a ciclovia for three Saturdays in August, 2008, turning almost seven miles of Park Avenue from Central Park to the Brooklyn Bridge into a car-free route from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.[10]

Miami, Florida held its first ciclovia, called Bike Miami, on Sunday, November 9, 2008, as part of the City of Miami's Bicycle Action Plan. More instances of Bike Miami are being planned for the near future.

Australia

In Australia, the city of Melbourne has held two Ciclovia events (called Cyclovia), on 28 May 2006, and on 13 April, 2008. During these events, a 4 kilometre (2.5 mile) section of the busy arterial Sydney Road was pronounced car-free for a period of 6 hours. Bicycles and pedestrians filled the road, and the city's trams also flowed as normal.[11]

Ecuador

Quito, Ecuador has a Ciclovia which runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., every Sunday during the summer and every other Sunday the rest of the year.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Representative José Fernando Castro Caycedo dies during debate". Colombia Reports. 2008-05-08. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
  2. ^ "El Paso Ciclovia: Take the Parks to the Streets". City of El Paso. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
  3. ^ "Scenic Sundays in El Paso". City of El Paso. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
  4. ^ "City encourages Las Crucens to get active". Las Cruces Sun-News. 2008-03-27. ISSN 1081-2172.
  5. ^ "Health briefs". Las Cruces Sun-News. 2008-06-24. ISSN 1081-2172.
  6. ^ Minnick, Chris J. (2008-03-25). "New programs to help families get off the couch". Las Cruces Sun-News. ISSN 1081-2172.
  7. ^ Minnick, Chris J. "New programs to help families become more physically active". New Mexico Department of Health. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
  8. ^ Holt, Tim (2008-08-18). "Traffic stoppers: An increasing number of cities are temporarily closing streets to cars and opening them to pedestrians and cyclists. It fosters a greater sense of community". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
  9. ^ "Sunday Parkways". Portland Office of Transportation. Retrieved 2008-07-12.
  10. ^ "Mayor Bloomberg and DOT Commissioner Sadik-Khan announce "Summer Streets," a car-free city route for health and recreation" (Press release). New York City Department of Transportation. 2008-06-16. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
  11. ^ Lucas, Clay (2008-04-14). "Two wheels rule on Sydney Road". The Age. Retrieved 2008-04-15. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

Further reading

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