Tapatios took to the avenues of Guadalajara last Sunday after the municipal government gave the green light for the resumption of the car-free exercise activity, the Via RecreActiva, following eight months of forced closure.
The successful program, launched in September 2004, sees 50 miles of metro-area avenues and trees closed to traffic for six hours on Sundays to prioritize activities such as cycling, walking, jogging and skating.
Zapopan gradually began to reopen sections of the activity one month ago, but Guadalajara municipal officials were more cautious, expressing concerns about additional conglomerations of people in the city center. Two sections of the Via RecreActiva reopened last Sunday: avenidas Javier Mina-Juárez-Vallarta, running from the Parque de la Solidaridad to the Glorieta Minerva; and along Avenida Chapultepec to Niños Héroes Glorieta and the Millennium Arches, where the route connects with the Zapopan Via.
The activity operates in Guadalajara and five municipalities – Zapopan, Tlaquepaque, Tonala, Tlajomulco and El Salto – and in normal times attracts around 190,000 participants each Sunday.