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Thousands of cyclists use the road from Bogotá to Choachí due to its proximity to the city and the demand for this climb, known as the Alto del Verjón.
Unfortunately, this route became a headache for the neighboring municipality, product of the traffic jams that are generated there. In addition, road insecurity already left a cyclist dead last week.
In this regard, the mayor of Choachí, Carlos Velásquez, spoke with EL TIEMPO to explain the situation.
Who was the person who passed away?
He was an officer, an active lieutenant colonel in the Air Force who came to the Parador Colombia 86 on the weekend to play sports. The cyclist was going down at a high speed and a truck was coming up, through his lane, the person could not maneuver his bicycle correctly and crashed into the truck, and, sadly, passed away.
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What is the problem that arises with cyclists in the municipality?
The road from Bogotá to Choachí goes to a sector called Parador Colombia 86, which already belongs to the municipality. This route, between Bogotá and Choachí, is what they call the Alto del Verjón.
In the administration of Enrique Peñalosa, a bicycle route was promoted that has been operating since then. That bike path, especially on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, collapses mobility in that sector. Approximately 3,000 cyclists are mobilized on an extremely narrow road, with one outbound lane and one oncoming lane without a berm, which does not have any type of maintenance, because in the curves the cyclists are left without visibility, and in which there is a large influx of traffic, because the road leads to three municipalities: Choachí, Ubaque and Fómeque.
In addition, at the weekend, between 1,200 and 1,500 vehicles enter the municipality on Saturday and Sunday. This generates mobility problems, and increases the chances of accidents, especially for cyclists; for vehicles, when crashing with a bicycle because the impact is minimal.
So there, multiple traffic jams are generated because bicycles block the passage of vehicles heading towards the municipalities.
Choachí depends 60 or 70 percent on tourism, and due to traffic jams and problems between bicycles and drivers, people are stopping coming to visit us.
Here we have agrotourism, ecotourism, we have beautiful landscapes, we have La Chorrera, which is the highest waterfall in the country, gastronomic offer, hot springs, but with this situation, people will not come to the municipality and all this is stagnant.
Choachí depends 60 or 70 percent on tourism, and due to traffic jams and problems between bikes and drivers, people are stopping coming to visit us.
Is there a presence of the mobility authorities there?
We do not see the District’s mobility presence on weekends, We do not see the presence of the District’s institutions to help control. I am very concerned because of the three municipalities, the most affected is Choachí. The economy, mobility, the safety of road users are being affected … In addition, between cyclists and drivers there are cases of intolerance, and there are accidents, which had been minor. Unfortunately this weekend a cyclist died.
I imagine that due to the event this weekend, there will be mobility officials, there will be Police, there will be officials from the District Institute of Recreation and Sports (IDRD), but that will be a matter of one or two weekends, and it returns to the same old. And, in the meantime, the problem remains for us.
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Are you opposed to bike paths?
No, I have absolutely nothing against cyclists. On the contrary, I am trying to make the problem visible so that the District administration, in the company of the Cundinamarca Ministry of Mobility, take actions to regulate this situation, which has already gotten out of hand.
I can’t do more. I am trying to protect the lives of cyclists, but that we do it in an organized way.
Choachí argues that its economy, based on tourism, is in trouble because of the problems on this road.
Choachí Mayor’s Office
What do you ask the District?
That we sit down and at a work table we agree and make decisions so that the problem is definitively solved. They have to listen to us, because Mayor Claudia López is turning a deaf ear to this issue.
I told her in the month of March and she said that cyclists had her priority, and didn’t pay much attention to it. You have to understand the situation we are going through. Here I have a totally bankrupt economyAs a consequence of the pandemic, people do not have jobs and the most important is tourism, but if the tourists don’t come we will continue in a debacle economic as it is happening.
The only thing I ask is that the Mayor delegate some officials with the capacity to make decisions to regulate this situation, together with the Ministry of Mobility and the IDRD. I cannot do anything else, just try to make the situation visible.
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