bogotá, view from cerro monserrate

The image above, taken from high in the eastern hills, shows three streets that help explain the city's peculiar urban character. Bogota’s traffic has neither the US’s barreling self-restraint nor India’s equilibrating dynamics, and its regulation is a central issue in the city’s contemporary development.

The first street is Jimenez Avenue, which snakes downhill on the left side of the image. It was recently refurbished by a team led by Rogelio Salmona and consists of a stepped linear fountain flanked by trees and lined with lanes of traffic. It was built above a riverbed that had been long been covered. The pedestrian-minded road is a scenic, graceful gesture that doesn’t knit things together so much as rend a linear pause in the city center’s gritty discontinuities.

The second is Carrera 7, the most important organizational element in Bogotá’s urban development. Called “La Septima,” it runs from Plaza Bolivar (highlighted in red), the center of the Spanish colonial grid, to the old salt mines far to the north.

Instead of climbing the Andes’ steep slopes as its population grew, Bogotá spread westward and digested its vast agricultural flatlands. The result is that the city’s main organizational corridor—along with its cultural and financial centers—have been displaced to the modern city’s far east. Its an odd situation that exacerbates traffic pressure. There are miraculous (i.e. highly controversial) plans to install the Transmillenio bus system on La Septima, which would consume precious lanes but ultimately raise its efficiency.

The third street I've highlighted is Calle 26, a high-traffic artery that extends as far as the international airport. Assuming a highway format, it is the most expressively symptomatic of the need for east-west connection. As Calle 26 nears La Septima it sinks below grade to allow the original grid to bridge over and then uses exit-ramps to disperse traffic as it passes the financial center and the Andes’ slope increases. I took this photograph in the morning while the city readied for its birthday celebration on La Septima. It’s one of those pictures that takes down a whole flock.

First, note the yellow sign at center that claims the street for the “Cyclovia” (pedestrian and bicycle use only) on Sundays and festivals, from 7:00 AM until 2:00 PM. I took the photograph on a Sunday that was also a festival day, although unfortunately I had to scoot out before the big parade fired up. Bicyclists are few but you can see plenty of pedestrians taking advantage of the traffic cease-fire.

Second, note the balcony, tarp, and bright light just below the sign. There was a camera crew up there with folks on couches warming up to color-commentate the occasion.

Third, note the tall rectangular sign rising behind the smoker’s head and the tip of the roof poking out from the behind the building on the far left. This is the Transmilenio stop on Jimenez Avenue, which runs perpendicular to La Septima.

Fourth, note the mix of buildings present. The textured wall to the right marks a Spanish colonial church. Far in the distance, partially obscured by the trees, rises a belltower of the cathedral in Plaza Bolivar. The rest of the buildings were established in the 1960’s and 70’s. The avenue here is fairly narrow because of the original Spanish grid in which it sits but as the road extends to the north it widens to take on several lanes of (choked) traffic.

Finally, note the Colombian flag in the upper left and the fellow smoking in the foreground. Bogotá is in Colombia and a fair number of people smoke here.