Transport in Venezuela revolves around a system of highways and airports.

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

is connected to the world primarily via air ( Venezuela's airports include the Simón Bolívar International Airport near Caracas and

La Chinita International Airport La Chinita International Airport is an international airport serving Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia State, Venezuela. It is located southwest of Maracaibo proper in the municipality of San Francisco Municipality, Zulia, San Francisco. La Chini ...

near

Maracaibo Maracaibo ( , ; ) is a city and municipality in northwestern Venezuela, on the western shore of the strait that connects Lake Maracaibo to the Gulf of Venezuela. It is the largest city in Venezuela and is List of cities in Venezuela by population ...

) and sea (with major seaports at La Guaira, Maracaibo and

Puerto Cabello Puerto Cabello () is a city on the north coast of Venezuela. It is located in Carabobo State, about 210 km west of Caracas. As of 2011, the city had a population of around 182,400. The city is home to the largest and busiest port in the count ...

). In the south and east the Amazon rainforest region has limited cross-border transport; in the west, there is a mountainous border of over shared with

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. The

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...

River is navigable by oceangoing vessels up to 400 km inland, and connects the major industrial city of

Ciudad Guayana Ciudad Guayana () (English: Guayana City) is a city in Bolívar State (Venezuela), Bolívar State, Venezuela. It stretches 40 kilometers along the south bank of the Orinoco, Orinoco river, at the point where it is joined by its main tributary ...

to the Atlantic Ocean. Venezuela has a limited national railway system, which has no active rail connections to other countries. Several major cities have metro systems; the Caracas Metro has been operating since 1983. The Maracaibo Metro and Valencia Metro were opened more recently. Venezuela has a road network of around 100,000 km (placing it around 47th in the world); around a third of roads are paved. As of 2019, about 80% of public transportation is not operational within the country.

Railways

''total:'' 7000 km (?) (248 km privately owned, including Orinoco Mining Company)
''

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

:'' 682 km (40 km electrified) ()

Cities with underground railway systems

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

(El Metro de Caracas, operated by C.A. Metro de Caracas) * Los Teques Metro - opened in 2006. * Maracaibo Metro - opened in 2006. * Valencia Metro (Venezuela) - opened in 2006.

Railway links with adjoining countries

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

- no *

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

- no **

- yes, but inoperative ( Railroad of Cúcuta) - proposed rebuilding **

Maps

Encarta Microsoft ''Encarta'' is a discontinued Digital data, digital multimedia encyclopedia and search engine published by Microsoft from 1993 to 2009. Originally sold on CD-ROM or DVD, it was also available online via annual subscription, although ...

Standards

* Gauge: * Coupling: AAR * Brakes:

Air An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

* Electrification: 25 kV AC 60 Hz

Stations

Timeline

2006

* Venezuela awards contracts worth $2.2 billion to build two new railway lines. Construction on the two new lines connecting San Juan de los Morros to San Fernando de Apure and connecting Chaguaramas to Cabruta is expected to begin in Q2 2006 and is expected to take six years to complete. April 2006 in rail transport. * In October 2006, Venezuela opened a new

- Cúa railway, the first new railway in the country for 70 years * "Towards the end of this month, we would have final discussions with Mittal Steel," said Mr Kapur, adding that the initial discussions took place in March. Moreover, Ircon is also likely to construct a new rail line in Venezuela at an estimated cost of $350 million.

2008

* On August 23, 2008, a deal was signed between

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

(

) and Venezuela to develop an electrified railway link between these countries. A minor hurdle is the use of utility frequencies of both 50 Hz and 60 Hz. * July 5 - meeting between Venezuela,

(

) and

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

(

) regarding a railway for freight and passengers to link the three countries, and linking the Pacific with the Atlantic also.

2009

* March 2009 - China to help build new network

Highways

Automobile transport is encouraged by the fact that Venezuela has the lowest petrol prices in the world, at $0.18 per gallon ($0.05 per liter). In some cases, petrol is less expensive than

bottled water Bottled water is drinking water (e.g., Water well, well water, distilled water, Reverse osmosis, reverse osmosis water, mineral water, or Spring (hydrology), spring water) packaged in Plastic bottle, plastic or Glass bottle, glass water bott ...

.
''total:'' 96,155 km
''paved:'' 32,308 km
''unpaved:'' 63,847 km (1997 est.)

Motorways

Venezuela has a fairly developed

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

network, certainly more developed than in most of South American nations. It is especially operative in the Northern and Western parts of the country, connecting the main cities of the country. The following roads feature at least 4 lanes and double carriageway: *Autopista Barquisimeto - Acarigua. It runs from Barquisimeto through Cabudare to Acarigua. Its length is 70 km. *Autopista Caracas - La Guaira. It runs from

to the Maiquetía International Airport and La Guaira. It extends for 30 km. *Autopista Cimarrón Andresote. It runs from Barquisimeto through San Felipe and Morón. Its length is 125 km. *Autopista Circunvalación del Este. It runs from

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

to Naguanagua. Its length is 13 km. *Autopista Circunvalación Norte. It serves as a bypass for Barquisimeto. Its length is 30 km. *Autopista Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho. Projected to run from

to Güiria, it is a motorway currently under construction, though parts of it are already in use, including

- Río Chico (98 km.), Caucagua - Higuerote (20 km.), Boca de Uchire - Clarines (43 km.), Píritu -

Puerto La Cruz Puerto La Cruz () is a port city located in Anzoátegui State, in Venezuela. It is the seat of the Juan Antonio Sotillo Municipality. The city has road connections to the state capital, Barcelona, to Lecheria and to Guanta. Geography The cit ...

(66 km.) and Santa Fe -

Cumaná Cumaná () is the capital city of Venezuela's Sucre State. It is located east of Caracas. Cumaná was one of the first cities founded by Spain in the mainland Americas and is the oldest continuously-inhabited Hispanic-established city in Sout ...

(52 km). *Autopista José Antonio Páez. It runs from

to Barinas. It also connects the cities of San Carlos, Acarigua and Guanare. It has a length of 336 km. *Autopista Manuel Piar. It connects

and Upata. It stretches for 62 km. * Autopista Regional del Centro. It is one of the most important motorways of the country, running between Venezuela's first and third biggest population centres:

and

. It also connects

Charallave Charallave is a city in the state of Miranda, Venezuela, and part of Miranda's Valles del Tuy region. It is the capital of Cristóbal Rojas Municipality. The name derives from the local ''Charavares'' indigenous people found at the time the ci ...

, Maracay and Guacara. Its length is 160 km. *Autopista San Cristóbal - La Fría. It is a motorway currently under construction, projected to link San Cristóbal and La Fría. Some parts of the motorway are already open, such as San Cristóbal - Palmira (18 km), Lobatera - San Juan de Colón (16 km) and San Félix - La Fría (19 km). *Autopista Simón Bolívar. It links

and Puerto Ordaz with

Ciudad Bolívar Ciudad Bolívar (; Spanish for "Bolivar City"), formerly known as Angostura and St. Thomas de Guyana, is the capital of Venezuela's southeastern Bolívar, Venezuela, Bolívar State. It lies at the spot where the Orinoco River narrows to about ...

. It has a length of 131 km. *Autopista Valencia - Puerto Cabello. It extends from Guacara, to

in the Caribbean coast. It has a length of 60 km. *Autopista Valera - Trujillo. It connects the city of Valera with Trujillo. It extends for 34 km. *Autopista Zulia - Lara. It extends from Barquisimeto to

, two of the main population centres of Venezuela. It also links Carora, Ciudad Ojeda and Cabimas. It has a length of 293 km. *Avenida Juan Bautista Arismendi. It connects Porlamar and Punta de Piedras. It has a length of 36 km. *Carretera Rafael Caldera. It is a two lane expressway that links Mérida with El Vigía. It has a length of 60 km. *Intercomunal Coro - Punto Fijo. It connects Coro and

Punto Fijo Punto Fijo is the capital city of the municipality of Carirubana in northern Falcón State, Venezuela. It is located on the southwestern coast of the Paraguaná Peninsula. Its metropolitan area includes the parishes of Norte, Carirubana, Punta Ca ...

. It extends for 79 km.

Waterways

7,100 km; Rio Orinoco (400 km) and Lago de Maracaibo accept oceangoing vessels

Pipelines

* extra heavy crude 980 km *

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring u ...

6,694 km * refined products 1,620 km *

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

5,347 km (2010)

Ports and harbors

Air travel

In 2012, Venezuela had 492 airports. In 2014, due to difficulty converting bolivars to other currencies, many international airline either cut back or entirely cancelled service to the country. A shortage of seats caused international ticket prices to rise; one report found airfare to Miami more than double the fare to Miami from Bogota in Colombia.Reuters
/ref>

Airports - with paved runways

''total:'' 128
''over3,047 m:'' 6
''2,438 to 3,047 m:'' 9
''1,524 to 2,437 m:'' 35
''914 to 1,523 m:'' 61
''under 914 m:'' 17 (2012)

Airports - with unpaved runways

''total:'' 364
''2,438 to 3,047 m:'' 3
''1,524 to 2,437 m:'' 55
''914 to 1,523 m:'' 113
''under 914 m:'' 193 (2012)

Heliports

3 (2012)

Cable car

Venezuela has had in times the world's highest cable car in operation. The Mérida cable car opened in 1960, connecting Mérida with the top of the Sierra Nevada de Mérida. It was closed indefinitely in 2008, having reached the end of its service life. After an extensive renovation and the renewal of its fleet, operations resumed in 2016.

References

External links

Map of transport infrastructures of Venezuela
{{Venezuela topics