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Quito?s population has grown almost tenfold. Now two ambitious transportation projects aim to transform the city, for residents and visitors. Looking down on the city of Quito from the teleférico that rides up the eastern slope of the Pichincha Volcano, buildings as high as 30 stories dot an urban landscape that includes the former citadels and centuries-old churches of what was once a Spanish colony.
But someone looking at Quito from that same view 50 years ago would have seen a considerably smaller city full not of high rises but of single-family homes.
The discovery of oil in Ecuador in the late 1960s triggered growth in the country?s capital that pushed the city not only out but up. Quito?s population has grown from 350,000 then to almost 3 million today. Now, Quito?s transformation from sleepy town to vibrant metropolis is entering perhaps its most important phase: The population explosion has created the need to overhaul the city?s transportation infrastructure. Having already moved its airport out of the city center, Quito will open a brand new subway line in 2020, just seven years after the first phase of construction began. The metro could usher Quito into a new era as a regional economic power.
Quito?s loss of worker productivity caused by traffic problems is not unique to this city, as Los Angeles and other suburbanized American cities face similar issues. If Quito?s subway is a success, it could serve as a model for other cities that are tr...