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| Bicycle Riders Enjoying "Ciclovia" (photo from The Guardian) |
The idea behind a ciclovia -- or car-free streets -- started in Bogota, Colombia's capital city in 1974, according to a story appearing in today's online editions of The Miami Herald. During a ciclovia, major thoroughfares are closed so that leg-based exercise and exercisers can be accommodated. Amazingly, the urban initiative became an enormous hit. Today, it's not uncommon for over a half-million Bogota residents to hit the streets with their bikes or on foot on a given Sunday.
Bogota's embrace of ciclovia is a tremendous success story for local residents and for other cities that have emulated its approach, such as San Francisco. It's also the rare Colombian product that isn't illegal to export.
