Splitting the Street

Ciclovia cyclists in Bogota Colombia. Photo by Aaron Paley

The original ciclovia in Bogota Colombia takes advantage of streets with median islands. Many of their 80 miles (!!!) of weekly street closures take place on one half of a street with a raised median – or one fourth of a four-part street – as shown above. Cars drive on one side of the median, bicyclists and pedestrians cruise the other side. That raised concrete provides a barrier similar to protected bicycle lanes, also called cycletracks – common in Europe, but fairly limited in the U.S. (so far, they’re popular in New York City and Portland, Oregon and coming soon to Long Beach.)

Are there similar median-ed streets in Southern California that you think could make for good cicLAvia material? Let us know what streets you’d like to see – in the comments below.

Here’s another nice photo of the split street ciclovia from Bogota:

Bikes and pedestrians on the left, cars on the right - in Bogota. Photo by Aaron Paley

Bogota also use various cones, signs, etc. for partial and full street closures/openings. Another Bogota ciclovia photo below:

Cone-type barriers used for ciclovia partial street closure - in Bogota, Colombia. Photo by Aaron Paley.

And a couple more photos from Guadalajara, Mexico, too:

Ciclovia-style closure in Guadalajara. Photo by Aaron Paley.

Another street closure barrier from Guadalajara, Mexico. Photo by Aaron Paley.