Tourist Attraction in Mérida:
Teleférico de Mérida
The Mérida Cable Car Tourist Transport System or simply Mérida Cable Car is a cable car system that operates in Venezuela. It is already in full operation. It is the highest and second longest cable car in the world for only 500 meters, but it is in the first place because it is the only one that combines so much height with so many kilometers in length. The Mérida cable car has a distance of 12.5 kilometers, making it an engineering work that was traditionally unique in its type and with more than 50 years of history. It goes from the city of Mérida to the peak of the Espejo peak within the Sierra Nevada National Park in the Venezuelan Andes, specifically in the state of Merida, Venezuela. It was closed in 2008 for its modernization and was reopened on April 29, 2016, in pre-commercial stage, to finally open to the public on October 7, 2016. The first Mérida cable car was projected in 1952 by a group of Venezuelan mountaineers called the Andean Venezuelan Club during the government of General Marcos Pérez Jiménez, in order to build a system that facilitated the ascent to the Sierra Nevada de Mérida. The proposal was taken into account and the topographic survey was carried out in order to develop the project in 1955. By 1956 the final route was drawn up and for the following year the loading cable car was in operation until La Aguada station, who it would serve as a transport for the materials necessary for the construction of the stations. The cable car was built mostly with French, Swiss and German support. By 1958 it was 50% built. The work was completed in March 1960 thanks to the support of Venezuelan workers and the foreign technical team led by the French specialist Maurice Comte. Throughout the years, the Mérida cable car system has been updated, ensuring it and guaranteeing its continuity over time.