A Missed chance
Published: 2007-08-21
Category: Scribbles
Tags: cycling, santiago, traffic
Language: [English]
page views: 366


(Note: Those that know me know that my main mode of transport is the bicycle. In fact I should be part of the furiosos ciclistas movement if I was a bit more politically engaged.)
Over the last decade, private transport in Santiago has been revolutionized with many modern new "urban highways" becoming available. Almost all of these projects have been a collaboration between public and private organizations. The main way of attracting private investment has been a "pay as you drive" scheme (using RFID tech) to make the users pay for the new highways. Many of these new private roads replaced already roads. And the government had assured that it would be designed in such a way that there would always be a secondary road for getting around without having to pay the fee.


Now that most of these roads have been completed, it is clear that in fact it did have a very positive effect on some of the travel times, there are also many situations where people are simply forced to use these toll-roads since there simply is not alternative to get to their homes.

It is also clear that the focus of these roads clearly has been only on the private use of these resources. Public transport hardly makes use of them and neither do trucks. They keep using the clogged-up city streets to get around. Also it allows people in the rich neighbourhoods to avoid the realities of the rest of Santiago. Zipping from uptown through a smooth underground tunnel to the International airport in a bit more then 30 minutes. Before the tunnel the same trip cost 90 minutes on a good day, and led you to go though some of the more nasty (real?) parts of Santiago.

If the government spend so much energy on getting this infrastructure, it would have been quite easy to include a clause that they also had to plan for a bicycle paths along all these new highways. It would have made a great asset for all of Santiago, unlocking the city and giving save fast access to all of the city without the need for a car at all.

Many parts of the city are adding more bicycle roads but they there is still much to be done. And it's noticeable that they are not designed to really be used all. In general they are too narrow, and there's a strange turn at each minor intersection. Of course it's good that they are doing something. But if they are really serious about getting people out of their cars there's a lot more to be done.