Content area
Full Text
Note: Original Title: MEXICO: Cyclists Speed Up Transportation Changes
Since September, representatives of the non-governmental organisation Bicitekas have been meeting every two weeks with delegates from the municipal government, the Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM) and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), a U.S.-based international group, to design the plans.
The goal is to create bigger and better spaces for bicycling in a city with 10,200 kilometres of roads and 3.5 million vehicles, with at least 300,000 more cars being added each year.
According to the draft of the plans, by 2018 there should be 600 km of bikeways (compared to 80 km today), boosting the use of bicycles, which today is a dangerous activity accounting for just 0.7 percent of all trips inside the city. An average of 30 cyclists are killed each year in accidents in Mexico City.
The bike paths, whose routes rarely coincide with the mains streets and avenues, are part of a plan for 2030 to achieve a city with bicycle...