Traffic Management in Latin America

The Urban Mobility Observatory report states that the countries in the region face the challenge of strengthening human and material resources used for traffic management in metropolitan areas, given that most of the available resources are allocated to control and supervision.

A relevant fact is that only 4 percent of the resources are dedicated to traffic control planning, in contrast to 41 percent available for control and supervision. This is undoubtedly reflected in the effectiveness of the measures taken to control the flow of vehicles in the cities.

The mobility study indicates that it is necessary to increase the current availability of vehicles (41 percent) and motorcycles (14 percent) to achieve a greater impact on traffic management.

This context has promoted the implementation of programs or special initiatives for traffic management in 15 cities of Latin America.These plans lead to temporary changes or restrictions in the use of roads during specific times or days, through traffic management measures.

Some successful examples are: exclusive lanes for public transportation during peak hours, use of counter-flow  channels during high vehicular traffic hours, closing of roads for their use by pedestrians and non-motorized individual transportation(bicycles), and the prohibition to circulate at certain times or days (peak and tag).