Bogotá's Suddenly Bikeable Seventh Ave.

Where cars normally rule, now it's bikes and pedestrians. 

Walking across the bridge over 26th St. 

Bogotá's normally chaotic, congested and contaminated Seventh Ave. has suddenly become bikeable, thanks to the demolition of the bridge over 26th St. - at least for the seven blocks between 19th and 26th Sts.

While it's only a short stretch, and cyclists and pedestrians still have to fight traffic and pollution to the north and south, to the city's credit it's made a real effort to create a 'humane' transit scheme for the car-free stretch of Seventh Ave. (Which will last at least five months and might be extended to Plaza Bolivar, and even made permanent).

To the north of 26th, they also added a useful bike lane, altho the barrier can't protect against the chronic pollution.

Are these improvements signs of bigger things to come? We can only hope.

Seventh Ave. in normal times. A bicyclist fights his way amidst traffic. 

In normal times, cycling along Seventh Ave. is not child's play. 

The bike lane has even made Seventh a tourist attraction. 

The bicycle lane's presence doesn't mean it's respected. 

The city also created this bike lane near the old Bavaria brewery. It's useful, but the pylons orovide no protection from noise and pollution. 

Is this just temporary, or the start of a more bikeable Bogotá?

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogota Bike Tours