A Network Analysis Approach to Identifying Rat-Running Hotspots in Bogotá, Colombia

Congestion in urban areas can also lead to an increase of vehicle flows across residential areas impacting road safety and infrastructure. Authorities have very limited information to identify and address the presence of rat-runs. We propose a network-analysis method based on betweenness centrality and employing open data to identify places in Bogota’s road network that are likely to become rat-runs. It was possible to identify the 5% of the residential roads that, under congested conditions, provide faster routes for drivers. These findings can inform the strategic deployment of traffic calming measures to mitigate the impact of rat-runs.