Graduate leads smart road project

By: Juan Carlos Monzón. Journalist, Communications Advisory Office

The challenge consisted of installing approximately 282 traffic, security, and public order monitoring points across the country. “I traveled to all twenty-five departments and six thousand kilometers of road network completing the task of installing speed and counting cameras.”.

The scale of this project is immense. In fact, a control center already exists in Bogotá, monitoring all these locations. “The initiative itself is linked to highway safety, where the Ministries of Defense and Transportation created this program, in which the armed forces operate it along various road corridors. From there, they can detect, for example, public order issues such as car bombs, the condition of the roads, or if a vehicle has dropped an object that poses a risk to road safety, among other things.”.

The investment, totaling 60 billion pesos and involving meticulous work, was the starting point for this woman's decision to present it at the Fourth Intelligent Transportation Congress held in Mexico. “I decided to submit the project to attend as a speaker. I sent all the required documents and my presentation. Shortly after, I was also invited to participate in the Intertraffic Award Latin America, which recognizes best practices in the traffic and mobility technology industry.”.

This is how they presented the project, which competed against nineteen other countries. “It was a very close competition. There were proposals such as a double-decker bike path and technologies for preventing traffic accidents. After evaluating all the entries, they decided to award us the prize on November 9th because we positively impacted road safety and effectively monitored infrastructure in an initiative that is the largest of its kind in Latin America.”.

But her success doesn't end there. “I gave my presentation first virtually and then in person. Seven countries participated. Mine was very well received, so much so that people from other countries started approaching me to exchange knowledge.”.

What comes next? “The exciting part is developing predictive analytics that will allow us to detect the start of a landslide so we can close the road without fatal consequences. I also want to present this achievement and others next year in the Netherlands at the global event that brings this sector together.”.

Finally, he takes the opportunity to send a few words to the students of UCundinamarca. “The message is to take risks, not to be afraid of the unknown. What I do is more in the field of civil engineering, but I wanted to learn about this area. From my personal perspective, I always wanted to go out and fall in love with something that would motivate me professionally; I couldn't see myself in telemetry for communication systems, for example. Then one day I came across this opportunity, I took it, and I liked it. Here I've had to learn about law and finance, and so on. The important thing is to do things with passion, and the money will come as a bonus.”.

At the University of Cundinamarca, we continue to strengthen our relationship with our graduates. If you would like to share your entrepreneurial or professional growth story and inspire others, please write to us at the following email address: [email protected]

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