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Transport Geography in Peru the Inter-Oceanic Highway that links the Atlantic port of Santos
(Brazil) with Peruvian ports along the southern Pacic coast
(Fig. 1). Original forecasts by Brazilian transport analysts for this
Research on the transportation geography of Peru has not fea- 3000-mile-long corridor argued that the route would provide com-
tured prominently in the Journal of Transport Geography since its petition for the renovated Panama Canal by reducing Brazilian
inception. This trend mirrors transport research articles addressing agricultural shipping costs to Asia by up to $100 per ton (Delbar
Latin America generally since the early 1990s, although signicant et al., 2011). However, to date, there is no empirical evidence that
growth in research articles on Brazilian transport issues has predicted cost savings have materialized. Indeed, the current
occurred since 2011 (Keeling, 2013). As the third largest country physical nature of these roads (surface and width) mitigates any
by size in South America, the fourth in population (31 million), signicant time and cost savings. Further north, Salonen et al.
and seventh in GDP (purchasing power parity) per capita (about (2012) examined measures of spatial accessibility in the Peruvian
$13,000), Peru is inuenced signicantly by its transportation chal- Amazons riverine environments to determine what impacts
lenges. The countrys geography presents barriers to accessibility, improved boat trafc capabilities might have on socio-economic
mobility, and regional integration. Most trafc occurs along the interaction. They found that boat frequency and transport capacity
northsouth routes between the Andes and the Pacic Ocean, data suggested a high degree of variability in transport possibilities
where the majority of Perus population lives (55 percent). across the region. In Iquitos, one of Perus more transport-isolated
Almost 10 million people reside in the Lima Metropolitan Area, communities, Paz-Soldan et al. (2014) used GPS tracking to
about a third of Perus total population. The dominant transport attempt a more nely grained analysis of local mobility. Bravo
corridor is the Pan-American Highway that connects Peru to (2002, 223) researched the role of rural roads in gender relations
Ecuador and Chile, with multiple eastwest corridors linking the in the Peruvian highlands and argued that affordable transport
coast with Andean and Amazonian communities. Only about 13% services and appropriate intermediate means of transport should
of the countrys population lives in the Peruvian Amazon, which be considered and encouraged in transport intervention
accounts for 60% of Perus territory, while the remaining third lives programs. Orr (2015) recently examined how class, ethnic, and
in the Andean highlands. geographical divisions within Peruvian society have impacted the
Detailed transportation research throughout Peru has been enforcement of transportation safety regulations, arguing for a
conducted in Spanish by local planners, national and urban gov- greater sensitivity to the anthropological elements of local move-
ernment agencies, universities, and regional development groups, ment and interaction.
with much attention focused on urban mobility issues (Lima), on Accessibility and mobility issues are central to strategies
the link between rural development and accessibility, and on designed for tourism development and enhancement (Tveteras
broader trans-boundary connections (e.g., Quispe Cornejo, 2014; and Roll, 2014; Smith and Hurt, 2011; Bury, 2008). Without the
DESCO, 2012; Bara Neto et al., 2006). The focus of this report, how- basic infrastructure needed to move visitors around the country
ever, is on recent English-language research on transport issues in to its physical and cultural hotspots, growth in the tourism indus-
Peru and the opportunities that exist for future research, as the try likely could be stied, especially as neighboring Brazil gains
country is signicantly underrepresented in the transport geogra- tourism momentum from the 2014 World Cup and the 2016
phy literature. Given its physical properties, a critical challenge for Olympics. Across the country, only 13% of all roads are paved,
Peru is building infrastructure to facilitate better integration with although 60% of national roads are paved, which includes the
and connections to its neighbors, with Brazil (east) and Chile critically important northsouth Pan-American Highway (Fig. 2).
(south) the most important economically. As part of a larger, Many of the key highways in Peru are now operated by private
continental-wide strategy to enhance regional infrastructure, the concessions, responsible for the highways maintenance and
creation in 2000 of the Initiative for the Integration of the on-going operation. Originally built by the public sector, these con-
Regional Infrastructure of South America (IIRSA, 2009) led to the cessions recover costs by charging tolls, which typically run about
identication of multiple hubs and corridors that would impact 2.5 cents per kilometer (this compares to an average of 0.10 cents
transportation development in Peru generally, but especially in in the U.S. and across the Euro zone, although rates do vary widely
the Amazon basin. Of particular concern has been the environmen- by country, by location, and by time of day). Trucks pay at least
tal and social impact of road building in the Peruvian Amazon twice the private-vehicle toll, depending on the number of axles
(Perz, 2014; Perz et al., 2013; van Dijck, 2013; Mki et al., 2001), and/or tires, which obviously adds a cost to the price of goods
along with concerns about the relationship between transportation transported.
and export opportunities, and the role of port facilities A nal area of signicant research in recent years on transporta-
(Wilmsmeier et al., 2014; Mesquita Moreira et al., 2013). tion geography in Peru has been attempts to understand accessibil-
A much-celebrated project that has been hailed as a signicant ity and mobility challenges in the Lima Metropolitan Area more
transport infrastructure achievement is the recent completion of effectively (Barbero, 2007). As the countrys dominant urban
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2015.04.002
254 Transport Geography Page / Journal of Transport Geography 46 (2015) 253255
Orr, D.M.R., 2015. Regulating mobility in the Peruvian Andes: road safety, social Smith, J.S., Hurt, D.A., 2011. Roads less traveled: emerging tourism in Peru. Focus on
hierarchies and governmentality in Cuscos rural provinces. Ethnos (in press). Geography 54 (1), 1123.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2014.923013. Strauch, L., Takano, G., Hordijk, M., 2015. Mixed-use spaces and mixed social
Paz-Soldan, V.A., Reiner Jr., R.C., Morrison, A.C., Stoddard, S.T., Kitron, U., Scott, T.W., responses: popular resistance to a megaproject in Central Lima, Peru. Habitat
Vazquez-Prokopec, G.M., 2014. Strengths and weaknesses of Global Positioning Int. 45 (3), 177184.
System (GPS) data-loggers and semi-structured interviews for capturing ne- Tveteras, S., Roll, K.H., 2014. Non-stop ights and tourist arrivals. Tourism Econ. 20
scale human mobility: ndings from Iquitos, Peru. PLoS Neglected Tropical (1), 520.
Diseases 8 (6). http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002888. Van Dijck, P., 2013. The Impact of the IIRSA Road Infrastructure Programme on
Perz, S.G., 2014. Sustainable development: the promise and perils of roads. Nature Amazonia. Routledge, New York, NY.
513, 178179. Wilmsmeier, G., Monios, J., Prez-Salas, G., 2014. Port system evolution the case of
Perz, S.G., Shenkin, A., Rondon, X., Qiu, Y., 2013. Infrastructure upgrades and rural Latin America and the Caribbean. J. Transp. Geography 39, 208221.
urban connectivity: distance disparities in a tri-national frontier in the Amazon.
The Professional Geographer 65 (1), 103115.
David J. Keeling
Peters, P.A., Skop, E.H., 2007. Socio-spatial segregation in metropolitan Lima, Peru. J.
Latin Am. Geography 6 (1), 149171.
Department of Geography and Geology, Western Kentucky University,
Quispe Cornejo, S., 2014. Geografa del transporte vial en Lima Metropolitana y su Bowling Green, KY 42101, USA
impacto ambiental territorial. Invest. Soc. 11 (19), 151171. Tel.: +1 270 745 4555.
Quistberg, D.A., Koepsell, T.D., Johnston, B.D., Boyle, L.N., Miranda, J.J., Ebel, B.E., E-mail address: David.keeling@wku.edu
2013. Bus stops and pedestrianmotor vehicle collisions in Lima, Peru: a
matched casecontrol study. Injury Prevention, http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/
injuryprev-2013-041023. Available online 23 April 2015
Salonen, M., Toivonen, T., Cohalan, J.M., Coomes, O.T., 2012. Critical distances:
comparing measures of spatial accessibility in the riverine landscapes of
Peruvian Amazonia. Appl. Geography 32 (2), 501513.