A Line in the Andes: Rethinking Quito through its Sub-surface

Ecuadorean newpapers El Telégrafo and El Comercio echoed the presentation of a report from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, edited by Felipe Correa in collaboration with Ramiro Almeida, on the potential of the new metro line for the city of Quito. The report, entitled "A line in the Andes", comes as a result of a studio held at the GSD last Spring, and includes 11 design proposals by students from architecture, urban design and landscape architecture.

The eleventh support study of the Metro in Quito showed the positive impacts that the large capital city will have by implementing this means of transport. The first phase of the project will start with the construction of the Magdalena station in November of this year.

This Friday, the Specialty Unit of the Metro of Quito, presented an impact study of the project to the office of Urban City Development, which was completed by the School of Design of the University of Harvard in the United States.

The findings that stand out from the results include: “…benefits to citizen mobility, the qualitative leap in technology, necessary actions that minimize the impact on the environment and stepping up to the challenges in the field of engineering,” mentioned Edgar Jácome, manager of the unit.

The Ecuadorian, Felipe Correa, was in charge of managing the study, which started in October of last year. “The investigation showed, amongst other things, that Quito ahs a great urban potential,” the manager mentioned, and added that “the 15 stops that the Metro of Quito will have will create cultural and entertainment spaces for the users.”

The second phase of the project, that includes the construction of a 22-kilometer tunnel and the remaining stations, will start in August of 2013 and will finish after 36 months; the total cost will come to $1.4 billion.

During the time of construction of Quito’s Metro, transportation “will not be greatly affected because the project is mainly underground, therefore on the surface the interruptions are going to be minimal and brief,” stated Carlos Páez, Secretary of Transportation of the Metropolitan District of Quito.

Carlos Páez elaborated on those brief interruptions by explaining that in the construction of some metro stops, “we would have to close some roads, but nothing that would turn into a problem for the flow of traffic.”

News extracted from Agencia de Noticias del Ecuador y Sudamérica (ANDES)