Highways in Colombia
Encyclopedia
Ministry of Transport (Colombia)
The Ministry of Transport is the national executive ministry of the Government of Colombia responsible for charge of regulating transportation in Colombia.- History :...
through the National Roads Institute. Colombia's road infrastructure is still very underdeveloped with most of the highways presenting a two lane road for outbound and inbound traffic. Some exceptions are the Highways of the Valle del Cauca, an infrastructure improvement project started about a decade ago which has not yet been entirely finished.
Nowadays, the direct public funding on highways is very limited, focused mostly in the recovering of old roads and the construction of 3,125 km of roads (The 2500 Plan). The National Institute of Concessions
National Institute of Concessions (Colombia)
The National Institute of Concessions is a Colombian government agency in charge of funding the planning and execution of road, river, sea, rail and port transportation projects in the country....
manages all concessions made by the central government in order to improve national infrastructures. This model establishes that is the concessionary the responsible for the building and maintenance of the highways, getting its return on investment mainly through tollways. The most important projects under negotiation or construction are La Ruta del Sol (the Sun Road), a 4-lane highway between Bogota and the Caribbean coast; the Highway between Bogota
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
and Buenaventura
Buenaventura
-Myths and legends:*Buenaventura River , a legendary but non-existent river that was once believed to run from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean in what is now the western United States-People:...
(Colombia's largest and busiest port) which includes a 9 km tunnel.
The security of the highways in Colombia is managed by the Highway Police
Highway Police (Colombia)
The Highway Police is the main body enforcing road regulations in Colombia to control land transportation and traffic, prevention of accidentality and crimes, similar to a highway patrol but with a nationwide area of operations.-History:During the presidency of Miguel Abadía Méndez in 1929 by...
, a unit of the Colombian National Police
Colombian National Police
The National Police of Colombia is the national police force of Colombia. Although the National Police is not part of the Military of Colombia , it constitutes along with them the "Public Force" and is also controlled by the Ministry of Defense. They are the largest police force in Colombia...
. Colombia is crossed by the Panamerican Highway.