Re-Designing the World's Widest Avenue!
Buenos Aires had a major problem with traffic congestion. 3
million people, 200,000 commuters and a perpetually clogged 20 lane avenue leading to the
city center.
Citizens demanded better traffic flow and expected that the iconic 20 lane Avenida 9 de Julio would be expanded to accommodate the increase in automobile traffic. Instead, city planners focused on creating an innovative solution that addressed the root causes of traffic congestion in the area.
Citizens demanded better traffic flow and expected that the iconic 20 lane Avenida 9 de Julio would be expanded to accommodate the increase in automobile traffic. Instead, city planners focused on creating an innovative solution that addressed the root causes of traffic congestion in the area.
Video interviewing city planners about the struggles and triumphs of re-designing Avenida 9 de Julio
Last week our class focused on waste reduction and
determined that the most desirable outcomes presented in Mark
Roseland's hierarchy of waste diagram (pg.96) were produced by rethinking and
redesigning common processes, i.e. reducing waste by not creating any in the first
place. I was curious to how this concept could be applied to transportation
systems in some of the world's most crowded metropolises. After a little
digging, I found Avenida 9 de Julio.
Avenida 9 de Julio in 2014- after re-designing its famous avenue
- 4 of the 20 congested vehicular lanes were set aside solely for buses- speeding up mass transit efficiency by 50% and car transport by 20%.2
- Laws require buses to only travel on the main road, allowing over 100 blocks of side streets to be transformed into pedestrian and bike friendly spaces.
- 130km of bike lanes were added, increasing bike commuting from “almost nothing” to 12%3.
- The new efficiency of mass transit travel is predicted to shift the already 80 million bus commuters to 120 million by 20154.
After
reading Roseland’s chapter on transportation planning and traffic management
highlighting dynamic changes various cities are implementing to create positive
change, I was admittedly a little underwhelmed after reading about Buenos Aires
grand new design. I was not very impressed with the scale of innovation and viewed
it as just a shift in resource usage and allocation. However, the more I
thought about it, the more I realized that innovation does not require new
inventions, but can be a change in perception or creative re-design as
emphasized in Roseland’s Hierarchy
of Waste diagram (pg.96).
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| Side streets converted into pedestrian friendly walking streets Credit: http://www.citiscope.org/ |
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| Bike racks now populate Buenos Aires as more people are encouraged to bike Credit: http://www.daveheidebrecht.com// |
While the changes made in Buenos Aires may not seem ground
breaking or extremely innovative at first glance, they garnered impressive
results and are predicted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5,600 tons per
year- the same results as taking 4,300 cars off the road for an entire year2.
What other innovative transportation systems have you heard about? How effective is this type of transportation innovation compared to new engineering technology and ideas presented in Toward Sustainable Communities? Do you think that this type of change possible in other mega- cities that have more elaborate infrastructure (over and under passes etc)?
- Toward Sustainable Communities. Mark Roseland. 2012.
- The Institute of Transportation and Development Policy: https://www.itdp.org/2014-sustainable- transport- award- finalist-buenos-aires-argentina/
- Cityscope.org: http://www.citiscope.org/story/2014/how-buenos-aires-unclogged-its-most-iconic-street
- Sustainable Transport Award 2014 Winner: Buenos Aires Interview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaBNNHLzBhI#t=119
3.
Wow! Did you see that they calculated a 371% increase in biking on 15th and Pennsylvania- the streets that they added protected bike lanes to? That's a staggering statistic. I'm sure a great deal of bikers just diverted their routes to take advantage of safer streets but that still leaves a huge percentage for new bikers. I know that I go out of my way to bike on the paved paths on 46 heading toward the by-pass and use my bike more often to commute when I know I'll be on wide, well maintained or empty roads. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIt seems like this project did a pretty fantastic job of fostering a change in social norms. If bicycles were just seen as the poor man's motorcycles, then the if-you-build-it-they-will-come plan was pretty bold. They must have done some serious marketing of this lifestyle, don't you think? OR maybe people just needed to see how fun and safe and convenient biking could be when the right infrastructure is in place. My favorite part are the bike racks that mimic parked cars...nice little jab at the way things were! Great post :)
ReplyDeleteI think it is really interesting that they had such huge success from only slightly modifying an already existing system. They did not reinvent the wheel, just tweaked it a bit. With an example like this, it makes me wonder how many opportunities there are in the US to do similar things. I think your blog points out a really important idea that social change seems to come best from a domino effect. Radical ideas and complete 180s are important and have their place in the spectrum, but people are creatures of habit. We are resistant to change. However, small changes are more manageable. Like in Argentina, where one change lead to another, lead to another, and another, which lead to a whole cultural change regarding transportation. The power of small changes is not to be underestimated. The difficulty thought is making those connections in the domino line. What small change do we try to affect first, and series of changes do we hope that can lead to? Sometimes its impossible to predict, but definitely worth thinking about.
ReplyDeleteExcellent points Dana, the video actually explained how difficult marketing the project and especially bike use was in Buenos Aires. He mentioned that for months he had to work diligently on creating a positive view of the project and also that he tried to convince all journalists who wanted to interview him ride bikes in the bike lanes to experience the changes first hand . I think this played an important role in swaying the public's opinion as well, since i'm sure the reporters incorporated their experiences biking in their articles!
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I understand what you mean by the proposed changes not being particularly innovative, but I appreciate the awareness you had in how these impacts, regardless of innovation, are making a difference. I think the biggest roadblocks (aside from money) in these cases are just what you talked about--convincing the public that this is good, and getting that buy-in from businesses, individuals, citizens, commuters, society, etc. The video explained that having a bicycle was looked down upon because you were considered poor for not even being able to afford a motorcycle. Over the last century the middle and upper classes have secured their place in society with worldly possessions (laundry devices, vehicles, A/C, etc.) that today makes it all the more difficult to get away from. How many of us would give up our fridge, freezer, or microwave? Changes to society and worldly views must be made to affect our planet in positive ways (like getting rid of those pesky CFC's in fridges and A/C units). Every progression we make towards 100% sustainability is helpful, and your article helped me in considering the sustainable world outside of North America. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI loved your post! I've heard this story before.. I think it was in a documentary I watched about planning urban cities. Great point - that you don't need labor intensive innovative technologies to solve many of the modern problems of cities. You just need to think creatively and shift the social norms, which is exactly what this mayor did. In the doc I watched, the mayor rode around on his bike, and they really emphasized how it went from this thing that poor people have to do, to a legitimate mode of transportation for people of all income levels. I think the best thing that was said in the movie you posted was that if you build bike lines, bikers will come. He makes it seem so simple! But I believe that if residents have that opportunity, they will take it. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a really awesome example of a simple design and awesome social marketing that was very successful. There are a few things to consider, such as it didn't happen overnight - I think it would be interesting to know the time table on the whole project, from beginning to when they saw the first benefits from its full use. I think having a realistic time scale for big projects is important for planners. Sometimes we can be so impatient, but real change takes years. Hopefully there can be lessons learned disseminated to other big Latin American cities, where this problem is very prevalent. i.e. I would be unbelievably scared to ride a bike in most of Lima, Peru and one time I spend over 3 hours in a taxi going what should have normally taken 25 min. ... Thanks for highlighting this!
ReplyDeleteHey! So the timetable mentioned in the video stated that the entire project took less than 7 months to construct- "from the first brick laid to buses in operation." Pretty fantastic time table for a project with such considerable results. 7 months is pretty painful in a big city like Buenos Aires but not bad at all considering the extent of the project. Especially compared with the endless construction projects at IU!
ReplyDeleteI like how you point out that the changes in Buenos Aires weren't incredibly "ground breaking" or "innovative". I drive back and forth from Florida quite often as that's where my family lives. Every time I drive through Atlanta I notice the HOV lanes. These high occupancy vehicle lanes are a simple way to encourage carpooling- especially in a city like Atlanta where the traffic is terrible. I would definitely go out of my way to find a carpool/reduce my driving to utilize these fast pass lanes.
ReplyDelete