This sustainable infrastructure road project in southern Bogotá provides a foundation for mobility and urban renewal, delivering long-term benefits for the community and the environment.

The ALO Sur Project is designed to alleviate congestion on the freight and arterial corridors serving the city of Bogotá, particularly in the central and southwestern areas. It addresses the need for greater mobility and economic efficiency, while expanding access for underserved communities and reducing environmental and public health impacts associated with the existing road system.

Quotes

“For the ALO Sur project, achieving the Envision Platinum verification is a reflection of a steadfast commitment to the country’s development. This milestone was not the result of isolated actions, but the direct consequence of having integrated sustainability as a structural and unmovable variable from the earliest stages of the road corridor’s development and design. Planning the infrastructure with its lifecycle in mind allowed us to consolidate a connectivity model that balances climate resilience, social well-being, and resource efficiency. This achievement positions us as a Latin American benchmark in sustainable infrastructure and drives us to continue proving that the engineering of the future must be environmentally responsible and socially transformative.”

— Juan Carlos Guevara, Project Manager

On a personal level, having worked toward obtaining the Envision Platinum verification for ALO Sur has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career. This process allows us to make visible the immense effort and rigor behind sustainability-oriented decisions, something that often goes unnoticed in the day-to-day of construction sites. This was not the achievement of a single department, but the fruit of a joint effort; we learned that by uniting all project areas under an interdisciplinary vision, the results exceed any expectation. Being the first road concession in Latin America to obtain this recognition is a tremendous honor, but above all, it is a powerful message to the entire sector. I am proud to know that ALO Sur today serves as an example and benchmark for other concessions, making it clear that it is indeed possible to develop top-tier road projects with profound social and environmental responsibility.

— Arnoldo Mestre, ENV SP Lead

“The ALO Sur Project exemplifies how sustainable infrastructure development can drive much-needed improvements for mobility, social equity and the environment. ISI congratulates the project team on their success in transforming this road project into a long-term, integrated solution that meets regional infrastructure needs.”

— Anthony Kane, ISI’s President & CEO

Project Background

A bidirectional north-south highway, the Avenida Longitudinal de Occidente – Tramo Sur Project, will connect to the Autopista Sur (Southern Highway) in the Muña (Chusacá) area of Sibaté and extend 24.5 km (15.2 miles) to Calle 13 in Bogotá. The corridor faced significant transportation challenges, including severe congestion, deteriorating road condition, air and noise pollution, and limited transit service. An unstructured road hierarchy had also encouraged the growth of informal transportation systems. These conditions created transportation bottlenecks that affected mobility, access to essential services, and economic opportunities across the region. The project team planned and designed ALO Sur as an integrated response to the region’s infrastructure deficit and these interconnected mobility, social and environmental challenges.

Verified Sustainability Achievements

Improve Mobility and Access – The project evolved in response to stakeholder and community input as the project team worked to address broader mobility goals. To improve accessibility, the project was expanded to include a 9.5-km pedestrian and cyclist pathway designed using Universal Design principles. In addition, based on concerns raised by rural communities, the project incorporated a new access point to maintain connectivity and support local economic activity.

Enhance Public Health & Safety – In addition to reducing gridlock and improving traffic flow,  the project incorporates multiple measures to mitigate air and noise impacts. These include sound-absorbing semi-dense asphalt mixtures, a low-noise operating fleet, two-metre-high earth berms, dense vegetative barriers, and a 100-metre-wide corridor that serves as a natural buffer for nearby communities.

Advance Equity & Social Justice – The project transforms an underutilized road corridor that has long been the source of insecurity and exclusion, while also alleviating chronic congestion on the Autopista Sur that disproportionately affected communities in the south. It will also return an important cultural heritage asset, the abandoned Canoas Archaeological Park, to community use. To maximize social benefits, the project team assessed potential social impacts and implemented measures to address them,  including the “Women at Work” initiative to advance gender equity, and training programs that expand skills development and economic opportunities for vulnerable communities.

Encourage Sustainable Transportation – ALO Sur creates a new metropolitan-scale active transportation network by connecting the El Porvenir Promenade with the Bogotá River Promenade for the first time, strengthening connectivity across the region. The project corridor also connects with the regional road network, improving the efficiency of inter-municipal public transportation. Its design takes a long-term approach by reserving space for the future implementation of a mass transit system.

Stimulate Economic Development – The corridor serves municipalities that are important industrial, mining, and agricultural centres. By increasing capacity and improving connectivity along a vital logistics corridor, the project supports the movement of goods across the region. The construction phase also creates opportunities to address the need for formal employment in areas with high unemployment and informal employment rates. The project also established contractor requirements and implemented programs that support local employment and income-generating initiatives.

Protect Surface Water and Groundwater Quality – The project incorporates multiple measures to protect water resources. The design incorporates a living barrier of native trees that functions as a biological filter, while sediment and grease traps at bridges crossing the Bogotá, Balsillas, and Fucha rivers will treat runoff before it enters local waterways. During operation, conventional detergents used to clean road signage will be replaced with 100% biodegradable alternatives, and synthetic chemical fertilizers and herbicides will be replaced with organic products. Facilities, such as the toll plaza and operations control centre, are located outside watercourse buffer zones. Beyond minimizing impacts, the project supports watershed health through a collaboration with the Municipality of Mosquera to restore the Laguna La Herrera Wetland, including reforestation of buffer areas to improve water quality and ecosystem health.

Assess Climate Change Vulnerability – The project team considered the road corridor, interconnected infrastructure systems, and surrounding communities, and identified flash floods, wildfires, and landslides as primary hazards. The team assessed critical vulnerabilities, including limited road redundancy due to a small number of primary access points, which could restrict mobility in the event of external closures. Key external risks were also mapped, including the potential for cascading impacts if a nearby levee were to fail. The vulnerability of nearby communities was determined to be low to medium, with localized risks primarily associated with wildfires and isolated flooding. The ALO Sur team committed to publishing the full study to promote transparency and sharing it with relevant public agencies at different levels. These measures aim to contribute to sector-wide knowledge and ensure project oversight is informed by the climate findings.