Pavement Priorities

No. 1: Trip into this trap on 14th, how far will you fall?

Take a wild guess at which of these Bogotá streets is about to be dug up and repaired:

No. 2: On Calle 17: Post WWIII ?

No. 3: On Calle 14, disintegration. 

No. 3: Near Plaza Rosario, steer right.

No. 4: In Teusaquillo, did a river run thru here?

No. 5: Carrera 3, a street that's almost sleddable. 

No. 6: Carrera 5, just south of Jimenez Ave., might turn into a sinkhole.

No. 7:One of Bogotá's most important intersections, the street's disappearing.

No. 8:Did a bomb or a meteorite hit this spot on Calle 17?

Congrats, you're right!!! No. 5! Carrera 3, between 12th and 13th Streets. (In front of Bogotá Bike Tours)

City workers have told us that Carrera 3 needs to be torn up and excavated to about two meters down because moisture is seeping up from the wastewater pipe running under the street. But if that were true, wouldn't we have seen or smelled something? And, even if the problem is real, is it really Bogotá's top road repair priority?

It all seems a bit suspicious - and really harms the neighboring residents and businesses.

Kids at play behind the caution tape. But at least they're safe from cars.

Here's our street torn up. An official from the local mayor's office agreed that there are other streets in far worse condition than ours. But he said those streets had been contracted for repair by the Urban Development Institute, the IDU, and as long as the IDU has those contracts, the local mayor's office has to spend its budget on different streets - even if they are in much better shape, like ours. You'd hope that local governments would protest this situation, which sort of holds their potholed streets hostage, preventing them from being repaired.

Less than a half year after it was repaved, the block below ours needed more work. Apparently, a sewage pipe was leaking. 

Related posts: Re-Re-Paving - Again!

Bogotá's Perpetual Public Works


By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours