The first bicycle lane in the Bolivian city will promote the use of bicycles as a sustainable and alternative mode of transportation.
The "Cycle Infrastructure Network Phase I - South Macrodistrict" project was launched to design and implement a pilot cycling infrastructure network in the Calacoto and San Miguel areas of the Bolivian city of La Paz.
This initiative is part of the EUROCLIMA program, financed by the European Union and implemented by the French Development Agency (AFD). With an investment of 500,000 euros, the pilot project seeks to promote an intermodal mobility connection that encourages the use of bicycles in the population's commuting.
The inauguration event, held on March 14, brought together representatives of the European Union, the AFD, the Municipal Cabinet and the consulting team that will oversee developing the project.
Royo-Olid, Head of Cooperation of the European Union in Bolivia, highlighted the benefits of moving around the city by bicycle, not only in terms of climate but also for health. Carla Baltzer, AFD's Project Manager in Bolivia, indicated that this is the agency's first step in working with the European Union in the transportation sector in the country. The Director of Integral Mobility Planning of La Paz, Tania Rodríguez, also participated in the event.
"The objective of this project is to implement a bicycle infrastructure in the municipality of La Paz, as a pilot project that can connect people through safe routes. Interconnection is also important and that is what we are going to aim for, to interconnect with other modes of transportation, such as the PumaKatari, the Cable Car and bicycles," said Tania Rodríguez.
The project will be executed in two phases: the first involves the layout of the bicycle path and the second, the construction of the cycling infrastructure, which is expected to be completed between December of this year and February 2024.
As part of the project kick-off activities, during that week the bikeNcity consulting team led different training sessions and workshops with mobility officials.
In addition, together with key stakeholders such as representatives of cycling groups, an inter-institutional working group was formed. In addition, a bicycle tour of the project implementation area was conducted to gather field information.
Currently, in the municipality of La Paz, less than one thousand trips are made daily by bicycle, which represents 0.04% of the modal distribution. This initiative will implement the first bicycle lane in the city, which will be designed according to the principles of cycle-inclusive infrastructure, making it safe, direct, coherent, comfortable, and attractive, which will provide greater road safety for users.
According to the advisor of the Mayor's Office of La Paz, Oscar Navarro, the municipality is developing proposals to continue with the construction of bicycle lanes in other sectors of the city.
From its Urban Mobility sector, the EUROCLIMA program promotes climate actions in transportation at the local level and highlights the importance of municipalities supporting alternative means of travel as part of their mobility planning, which contribute to national climate commitments.
About Euroclima
Euroclima is a program funded by the European Union and co-financed by the German federal government through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), as well as by the governments of France and Spain through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation.
The Program's mission is to reduce the impact of climate change and its effects in 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean by promoting mitigation, adaptation, resilience, climate investment and biodiversity. To this end, it is implemented according to the "Spirit of Team Europe" under the synergistic work of seven agencies: Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), AFD Group: Agence Française de Développement (AFD)/ Expertise France (EF), Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policy (FIIAPP), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
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