The Brazilian national net of highways is the second largest of the world. It is almost 2 million km long, with approximately 200.000 km of them paved, as of 2004. The name given to highway in Brazil is "rodovia" (expressway connecting two or more cities, or a far and important location, passing to an area outside any urban area, is the specification of "rodovia", in Brazil).

"Rodovias" are can be both paved or unpaved (but almost every major Brazilian highway is paved), and can have separated lanes to each direction or not, and can have multiple lanes or only a single lane.

As it is in the United States, Canada or most countries in Europe, most major "rodovias" have higher speed limits than normal urban roads, although minor "rodovias", unpaved "rodovias" and sections of major "rodovias" running inside urban areas have a low speed limit in general.

Annually, it is estimated that more than 1.2 billion people travel in the Brazilian highways (against the 80 million travelling in airlines).

Contents

1 Nomenclature 2 Growth, Net Density, Importance & Problems 3 Public vs Private Administration 4 Major Brazilian Highways 4.1 BR-040 4.2 BR-050 4.3 BR-101 4.4 BR-116 4.5 BR-171 4.6 BR-230 (Rodovia Transamazônica) 4.7 BR-277 4.8 BR-319 4.9 BR-381 4.10 SP-280 (Rodovia Castelo Branco) 4.11 Rodovia Anchieta (Anchieta Highway) 4.12 Rodovia Anhangüera (SP-330) 4.13 Rodovia dos Imigrantes (Immigrants Highway) 5 Curiosities 6 External Links

Nomenclature

Brazilian Regional highways are named YY-XXX, where YY is the abbreviation of the state where the highway is running in and XXX is a number (e.g. SP-280; where SP means that the highway is running entirely in the state of Sao Paulo).

Brazilian National highways are named BR-XXX. National highways connect multiple states altogether, are of major importance to the national economy and/or connect Brazil to another country. The meaning of the numbers are:

• 000-099 - it means that the highway runs radially from Brasília. It is an exception to the cases below.
• 100-199 - it means that the highway runs in a south-north way
• 200-299 - it means that the highway runs in a west-east way
• 300-399 - it means that the highway runs in a diagonal way (northwest-southeast, for example)
• 400-499 - another exception, they are less important highways and its function is to connect a city to an arterial highway nearby

Often Brazilian highways receive names (famous people, etc), but continue to have a YY/BR-XXX name (example: Rodovia Castelo Branco is also SP-280.)

Growth, Net Density, Importance & Problems

Growth started in the 1930s, but until the 1950s Brazil had still a relative small and inefficient highway system. The situation changed in the 50s and 60s thanks to Juscelino Kubitschek politic of "motorization" of the national economy: vehicles would be the motor of the economy. His policy attracted multinationals (like Volkswagen), which installed factories in the country. Since then, the Brazilian Highway system grew quickly (as the automobile national industry), reaching 200.000 km paved in 2000.

The Southern and Southeast regions of Brazil are heavily connected by highways, most of them, paved; the North region is the least connected with paved highways due to the presence of the Amazon rainforest). In this region, highways, when they are present, generally are unpaved. Manaus, for example, has no major paved highways connecting it to any other city but Boa Vista in the north.

Highways are the main mean of transportation in Brazil, both in number of movement of passengers and movement of freight and goods.

The major problem of highways as the national arterial system is that it is expensive to transport freight: trains are much cheaper, generate less pollution and create no traffic problems as trucks do. As of 2003, Brazil had only 24.000 km of railways, used mainly for mineral resources transportation (mines to seaport), while trucks are responsible for almost every other mean of freight transportation.

Public vs Private Administration

Brazilian highways are under constant observation (laws, rules, highway patrolling) of Detran, the national government organization responsible of the rules and laws about the Brazilian road system (including all the ones inside urban areas), and Dersa, the national government organization responsible to enforce these laws, but funding it is a government (from the state where the highways is/passes by) or private responsibility. All major Brazilian paved highways have toll stations.

In the 90s, many state's governments decided to privatize public-controlled paved highways, in order to generate extra income to the state's budget (for social care mainly). These governments argued that private funding will make problematic highways much better, because of the investments received. In fact, many private-controlled paved highways are in very good conditions (with many of them having critical problems before), but other people argue that private-controlled paved highways charge more at the toll stations and that these highways have more toll stations than public-controlled paved highways (in order to compensate for the investment done).

Major Brazilian Highways

BR-040

BR-040 runs radially from near of the national capital Brasilia (beginning 100 km south of the beginning of BR-050, in Brasilia), in a northwest-southeast way, to Rio de Janeiro city.

Cities where the BR-040 runs or passes by: Lusilandia , Belo Horizonte, Juiz de Fora, Rio de Janeiro.

BR-050

BR-050 runs radially from the national capital, Brasilia, in a north-south way, to Sao Paulo city.

Cities where the BR-050 runs or passes by: Brasilia, Uberlandia, Ribeirao Preto, Limeira, Campinas, Sao Paulo.

BR-101

BR-101 runs in a north-south way, along Brazil's coast. It is Brazil's second major highway, and the longest in the country (nearly 4600 km long). It connects more states capitals than any other "rodovia" in the country, in the total, 12 capitals are directly connected by BR-101.

The Rio-Niterói Bridge is part of the BR-101.

Cities where the BR-101 runs or passes by: Natal, Joao Pessoa, Olinda, Recife, Maceió, Aracaju, Feira de Santana , Salvador, Itabuna , Ilhéus, Porto Seguro, Linhares, Vitória, Guarapari, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Barra Mansa , Sao Paulo, Curitiba, Joinville, Blumenau, Florianópolis, Criciúma, Osório , Porto Alegre.

BR-116

BR-116 runs in a north-south way, near, but not in Brazil's coastline. It is the major Brazilian highway, and it is the second longest of the country. Numerous parts of the long path taken by the BR-116 have other official names.

The highway is especially busy along the Joinville-Curitiba-Sao Paulo-Rio de Janeiro section. The Curitiba-Sao Paulo section of the highway is known as Rodovia Régis Bittencourt, nicknamed "Rodovia da Morte" (Highway of death), due to its many accidents caused by the instable weather conditions of the region. The Sao Paulo-Rio de Janeiro section is named Rodovia Presidente Dutra, and it is the busiest section of the highway, running into or near of 15 cities with more than 200.000 habitants.

Cities where the BR-101 runs or passes by: Fortaleza, Salgueiro, Feira de Santana , Vitória da Conquista , Teófolio Otoni , Governador Valadares, Rio de Janeiro, Barra Mansa , Taubaté, Sao Paulo, Curitiba, Lages , Canoas , Porto Alegre

BR-171

BR-171 is the only paved highway connecting Manaus to another Brazilian state capital. It starts in Manaus, passes into Jundia , Novo Paraiso , Caracai , Mucajai , Boa Vista (Roraima's capital) and Paracaima , in the extreme north of the country, connecting Brazil with the neighbouring country of Venezuela.

BR-230 (Rodovia Transamazônica)

BR-230 or Rodovia Transamazônica is Brazil's third longest highway, running in an east-west direction. It was planned and built in the late 60s and the beginning of the 70s, to connect the isolated state of Amazonas and region with the rest of the country.

It was planned to be more or less 8.000 km long, mostly paved and connecting the North and Northwest Brazilian regions and Ecuador and Peru, but nowadays it is 2.500 km long and mostly unpaved (dirt). BR-230 was inaugurated in August 30, 1972, and since then did not suffer any major alterations.

Other problems were the beginning of deforestation and the creation of numerous small villages along the highway, and traffic is impracticable during the rainy season of the year (October - March). Still, the highway it is very important, by connecting the region with the rest of the country. A major plan to pave most of the highway is under consideration by the Brazilian government, as of 2004.

Cities where the highway run or passes by: Aguiarnópolis , Maraba , Altamira, Itaituba , Humaita, Lábrea .

BR-277

BR-277 is a highway that runs east-west, starting from the Friendship Bridge (which connects Brazil with Paraguay) and goes up to Paranaguá. It is of major importance to Paraguay, seeing that major importations are made using the Paranaguá seaport.

Major cities connected by the BR-277: Foz do Iguaçu, Medianeira , Cascavel, Guarapuava , Ponta Grossa , Curitiba, Paranaguá. BR-277 is approximately 650 km long.

BR-319

One of the two major highways connecting the isolated capital city of Manaus, it is mostly unpaved, and though, traffic is impracticable in the rainy seasons of the year. Even though, it connects the city to the South (and more habited) regions of the country, making BR-319 a major highway of national integration.

Major cities connected by the BR-319: Manaus, Caiero , Humaita, Porto Velho.

BR-381

BR-381 it is a highway which runs in the Brazilian states of Sao Paulo and south region of Minas Gerais.

Major cities connected by the BR-381: Campinas, Pouso Alegre, Varginha, Oliveira, Belo Horizonte.

SP-280 (Rodovia Castelo Branco)

SP-280, more commonly named Rodovia Castelo Branco (direct translation is "White Castle highway") is a highway which runs in a west-east way, beginning at Presidente Prudente and finishing at Sao Paulo. It is one of the most movement highways in Brazil, being almost 500 km long.

The Castelo Branco highway is also one of Brazil's safest highways.

Cities where the highway runs in (or passes by): Presidente Prudente, Ourinhos, Bauru, Osasco, Sao Paulo.

Rodovia Anchieta (Anchieta Highway)

Rodovia Anchieta is a highway connection Sao Paulo downtown with the Atlantic coast. It is a major pride of the Brazilian engineering. Its official designation is SP-150.

The highway is one of the busiest of the country, because of the movement of goods to and from Santos's seaport. Traffic problems are common, mainly if there is bad weather (rain, snow, etc) or in prolongated weekends (holiday and weekend itself), where many families living in Sao Paulo itself go to Santos or Guarujá beaches. Rodovia Anchieta is approximately 120 km long.

Rodovia Anhangüera (SP-330)

The Anhangüera highway has its first origins dated of 1774. Officially inaugurated in 1940, it connects the city of Sao Paulo with the north part of the state and its main industrial cities. Its busiest section is Sao Paulo - Campinas, the first section inaugurated.

Cities linked by the Anhangüera highway: Sao Paulo, Campinas, Jundiai , Limeira, Sao Carlos, Araraquara, Mirassol.

Rodovia dos Imigrantes (Immigrants Highway)

Rodovia dos Imigrantes is a secondary highway connection between the city of Sao Paulo and the Atlantic Coast. It means "Immigrant Highway", the name was given as a form of remember the immigrant's contribution to the cultural, economic and social impacts that they had in the country. Like Anchieta, Imigrantes is also one of Brazil's busiest highways.

Rodovia dos Imigrantes is approximately 150 km long, and its official designation is SP-160. It was inaugurated in 1974, due to saturation in Rodovia Anchieta. Although longer than Anchieta, is nowadays more movimented than Anchieta, due to its highway conditions which permits higher speeds limits and a more direct path to Santos and Guaruja , the main cities attended by the highway.

Curiosities

• Manaus, Amazonas's capital (with a population of more than 1.6 million habitants), is one of the most isolated metropolitan regions of the world, accessible only by two major highways (only one paved) or by the Amazon River and the Negro River. It is located in the very heart of the Amazon Rainforest.

External Links

• site of the Detran of the state of São Paulo