Update: Medellin Unveils New ‘Pico-y-Placa’ Driving Restrictions Starting September 6; AMVA Cities Fall In Line

Medellin’s Mobility Secretariat this afternoon (September 3) finally unveiled its long-awaited rules on the upcoming “pico y placa” driving restrictions that start Monday, September 6.

Under the new rules (see: https://www.medellin.gov.co/irj/go/km/docs/pccdesign/medellin/Temas/NuestroGobierno/Publicaciones/Shared%20Content/Documentos/2021/Decreto-0730-de-2021-Pico-y-Placa.pdf), starting September 6, cars and light trucks (under 3.5 tons) with license plates ending in 0 are banned from circulation from 5 am to 8 pm.

The following day (September 7), cars and light trucks with plates ending in 1 are banned, then cars with plates ending in 2 are banned on September 8, and so-on.

The climbing-numbers rotation starts all over again on Monday, September 20, with the same numerical sequences — plate numbers variously ending from 0 to 9 — banned from circulation each corresponding day from Monday through Friday (see chart, above).

For the first two weeks (through September 17), the restrictions are “educational,” but starting September 20, the longstanding, historic “pico y placa” fines begin, according to the Secretariat.

Certain routes that pass through the entire Medellin metro area are exempted from the restrictions, including Autopista Sur, Avenida Regional and the parallel Avenida Occidental (the highways that run alongside Rio Medellin); Avenida 33 from Rio Medellin to its connection at Las Palmas; Avenida Las Palmas; and La Iguaná.

Also exempt are the eastward/westward roads alongside the La Iguaná stream between Avenues 63 and 80, and the east-to-westward segment of highway from the Horacio Toro bridge connection to La Iguana heading westward.

Exempt vehicles include fully electric and hybrid-electric cars; compressed-natural-gas-fueled cars; ambulances; buses; heavy trucks; public service vehicles; fire trucks; wreckers; health/medicines transport vehicles; and all types of emergency vehicles. Food/perishables transport vehicles also can be exempted if properly registered.

Enforcement will be especially strict on 40 heavily-trafficked, inner-city road routes as specified in the new regulation. But rural Medellin’s outlying, rural routes are exempt.

As for motorcycles, their “pico y placa” restrictions start October 4, the new rules show. Motorcycles making home-deliveries will be exempted.

AMVA Cities Follow Medellin’s Lead

Hours after Medellin formally announced its pico-y-placa rules, Area Metropolitana del Valle de Aburra (AMVA) — the coordinating agency for the 10 cities in metro Medellin — unveiled its parallel guidance for the whole metro area (see: https://www.metropol.gov.co/Paginas/Noticias/pico-y-placa-empezara-a-regir-a-partir-del-6-de-septiembre.aspx).

That regional guidance includes internet links to each of the individual city regulations, which mainly follow the Medellin rules. For example, all 10 cities incorporate the 5 am-to-8 pm daily driving bans on individual vehicles, the same day/plate number rotations, and the same exclusions for certain vehicles (such as electric/hybrid vehicles, natural-gas vehicles, buses, etcetera).