Transport in
Bolivia is mostly by road. The railways were historically important in Bolivia, but now play a relatively small part in the country's transport system. Because of the country's geography, aviation is also important.
Bolivia's first light rail network is under construction in
Cochabamba, and is due to open in 2020.
Cable Car
Bolivia is home to
Mi Teleférico, the world's first urban transit network to use cable cars as the primary mode of transportation. This system services the twin cities of
El Alto and
La Paz, and increased physical and social mobility within Bolivia.[1]
Roadways
Bolivia as of 2004 has 62,479 km of road distance, of which 3,749 km (including 27 km of expressways) is paved and 58,730 km is unpaved.
Road construction in Bolivia is difficult due to its geography and lack of resources to completely develop an advanced road network. However, it maintains a small network of 4-lane freeways which are the following:
1
Oruro –
Patacamaya (Expected to be completed in a few years, extending to
La Paz). Length: 114 km.
The
Interoceanic Highway is an important highway that connects the
Amazoniantripoint border region of Brazil,
Peru and Bolivia to the Pacific Ocean. Bolivia's northernmost capital,
Cobija, headquarters a
free economic zone that uses the Interoceanic Highway to import and export most of its products.[2][3]
Waterways
10,000 km of commercially navigable waterways (2007)
Ports and harbors
Seaports
In October 2010,
Peru granted Bolivia port facilities and a free-trade zone as part of larger series of agreements strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries. Bolivia was granted about 1.4 square miles (3.6 km2) of port facilities on a 99-year lease at the Port of
Ilo on Peru's southern Pacific coast. A
similar agreement, signed by then Bolivian president
Jaime Paz Zamora in 1992, never materialized for a lack of investment in infrastructure.
Bolivia has free port privileges in the maritime ports of
Argentina, Brazil, and Chile.
There is a total of 23 ships (1,000
gross tonnage (GT) or over) totaling 116,373
GT/182,283 tonnes
deadweight (DWT) in Bolivia. Ships by type as below: (2008)