Transport in Venezuela


Transport in Venezuela revolves around a system of highways and airports. Venezuela is connected to the world primarily via air and sea. 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. The Orinoco River is navigable by oceangoing vessels up to 400 km inland, and connects the major industrial city of Ciudad Guayana 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 ; 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
standard gauge:
682 km

Cities with underground railway systems

Timeline

2006

Automobile transport is encouraged by the fact that Venezuela has the lowest gas prices in the world, at $0.18 per gallon. In some cases, gas is less expensive than bottled water.
total:
96,155 km
paved:
32,308 km
unpaved:
63,847 km

Motorways

Venezuela has a fairly developed motorway 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:
7,100 km; Rio Orinoco and Lago de Maracaibo accept oceangoing vessels

Pipelines

Merchant marine

Total:
53 ships totaling /
ships by type:

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.

Airports - with paved runways

total:
128
over3,047 m:
2,438 to 3,047 m:
1,524 to 2,437 m:
35
914 to 1,523 m:
61
under 914 m:
17

Airports - with unpaved runways

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

Heliports

3

Cable car

At one time Venezuela had the world's highest cable car. 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.