Transport and infrastructure in Colombia
Our listing of the primary types of transport compares the infrastructure of Colombia with the average of all countries in America. The main traffic and transport routes are in good condition, but do not reach the level of the leading industrial nations.In terms of the length of its rail network, Colombia ranks 113rd in the world with 0.04 meters per inhabitant. In total, the rail network is 2,141 kilometers long.
The waterways listed refer to inland traffic on rivers and canals. The number of ports includes those located on the 3,208 km of coastline. In 2021, about 4.90 million freight containers were transported.
› Airports in Colombia
Back to overview: Colombia
Road traffic
The network of roads and highways has a total length of 205,379 km. For each of the country's 51.52 million inhabitants, this corresponds to 3.99 meters. This puts Colombia in 126th place in the global ranking. However, it is also important to note that the country's population density is very low at around 45 inhabitants per km². In this case, disproportionately long distances generally have to be covered to reach the more remote parts of the country.With an average of 8289 traffic fatalities per year (2013 - 2019), road traffic in Colombia is considered rather mixed. This corresponds to 17.0 accident fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year. By comparison, this figure is 12.3 in the USA and 17.0 worldwide.
In Colombia, traffic drives on the right-hand side of the road, i.e. people drive in the right-hand lane and overtake on the left. Oncoming traffic comes toward you on the left side. Here you can also find an overview of all countries with left-hand traffic.
Colombia | |||
| total | per 1 mio inhabitants | per km² | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roadways | 205,400 km | 3,986.66 km | 179.88 m |
| Railroads | 2,100 km | 41.56 km | 1.88 m |
| Waterways | 24,725 km | 479.94 km | 21.66 m |
| Commercial harbors | 122 | 2.37 | 0.000 |
| Airports | 51 | 0.99 | 0.045 |
South America | |||
| total | per 1 mio inhabitants | per km² | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roadways | 3,101,100 km | 7,134.46 km | 174.14 m |
| Railroads | 85,100 km | 195.82 km | 4.78 m |
| Waterways | 119,400 km | 274.61 km | 6.70 m |
| Commercial harbors | 2,260 | 5.20 | 0.000 |
| Airports | 330 | 0.76 | 0.000 |
Data sources used
• Global Health Observatory Data Repository (World Health Organization)• UNCTAD
• Internation Union of Railways (UIC)
• CIA Factbook
• OECD Statistics
• Wikipedia (german)
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