Our friends at the Car Free USA blog tipped us off to an inspiring new 10-minute film from the good people at Street Films entitled: Ciclovia: Bogota, Columbia. The filmmakers went to Bogota to document the advances in the livable streets movement there and came away with this remarkable story. Say the filmmakers:
"On Sunday we spent the entire day - from 5 AM ’til nearly 5 PM - riding bicycles around the city courtesy of the Ciclovia, a weekly event in which over 70 miles of city streets are closed to traffic where residents come out to walk, bike, run, skate, recreate, picnic, and talk with family, neighbors & strangers…it is simply one of the most moving experiences I have had in my entire life."
We've noticed that this kind of forward thinking has taken hold in other progressive cities (People-Oriented Cities are Cycling Friendly Cities, September 4, 2007, CommuterPageBlog), (Enrique Penalosa and Bogota Columbia, September, 4, 2007; CommuterPageBlog), and (Another Car-Free Idea from Mexico City, August 2, 2007; CommuterPageBlog). Since the Washington, D.C. region was recently named the most walkable in the nation (D.C. Leads Nation in Walkability, December 4, 2007; CommuterPageBlog) shouldn't we be leading in this area as well? Shouldn't other U.S. cities being following the lead of Bogota? Perhaps some inspired TDM pros can lead the charge to implement something similar in their own cities here in the U.S.?
Related Links: WalkandBikeforLife.org (one of the speakers in the video was from this organization); Wikepedia on Ciclovia; official Ciclovia y Recreovia Bogota site (in Spanish); CicloviaElPaso.com (El Paso is currently the only U.S. City with a Ciclovia program).
Pictures from Ciclovia: Bogata, Columbia
Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.
Great article! I'm new to this blog, and was very happy to see a reference to ciclovias on my first visit.
And to answer your questions - yes, TDM pro's can lead the charge! After attending last year's ProWalk/ProBike a few of my colleagues at Portland Transportation Options became inspired by presentations by the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation and Gil Penalosa.
We're working on a pilot event emulating the ciclovia, and borrowing Chicago's English translation - Sunday Parkways. You can read more about our efforts here -
http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?c=46103
Timo Forsberg
Portland Office of Transportation
timothy.forsberg@pdxtrans.org
Posted by: Timo Forsberg | December 19, 2007 at 02:35 PM