Brazilian Highway System
The Brazilian Highway System is a network of trunk roads administered by the Ministry of Transport of Brazil. It is constructed, managed and maintained by the National Department of Transport Infrastructure, a federal agency linked to the Ministry of Infrastructure, and the public works departments of state governments.
The National Travel System comprises the road infrastructure and the operational structure of the different means of transporting people and goods. As for jurisdiction, the national road system is composed of the Federal Road Traffic System and the road systems of the States, the Federal District and the Municipalities.
The Investment Partnership Program is a major effort to expand and upgrade the network of highways aside with the Federal Highway Concessions Program. The Ministry of Infrastructure often uses a public–private partnership model for highway maintenance, and toll-collection. Currently, the longest National Highway in Brazil is BR-116 with.
Characteristics
, the system consists of of roads, of which approximately are paved, and about are divided highways, only in the State of São Paulo. Currently it is possible to travel from Rio Grande, in the extreme south of the country, to Brasília or Casimiro de Abreu, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, only on divided highways. The total of paved roads increased from 35,496 km in 1967 to 215,000 km in 2018, with an expansion of 0.5% between 2009 and 2019. In 2009, Brazil had of paved road and of unpaved road per inhabitant.In 2019, the Federal Highway System had, of which approximately were paved, and was under federal concession. The most important federal highways in the country are BR-101 and BR-116.
Although Brazil has the largest duplicated road network in Latin America, it's considered insufficient for the country's needs: in 2021, it was calculated that the ideal amount of duplicated roads would be something around from to. The main road axes also have problems because they often have inadequate geometry and constructive characteristics that don't allow quality long-distance flow.
The Brazilian Federal Government has never implemented a National Highway Plan at the same level as developed countries such as the USA, Japan or European countries, which specifically aimed at inter-regional travel, and which should preferably be served by highways. The Brazilian State, despite some planning efforts, has been guided by a reactive action to the increase in demand and not by a purposeful vision, directing occupation and economic density in the territory. Another problem is the lack of directing the Union Budget towards infrastructure works, since there is no law that guarantees funds from the Federal Budget for works on highways and other modes of transport, depending exclusively on the goodwill of the rulers.
Brazil even invested 1.5% of the country's budget in infrastructure in the 1970s, being the time when the most investment was made in highways; but in the 1990s, only 0.1% of the budget was invested in this sector, maintaining an average of 0.5% in the 2000s and 2010s, insufficient amounts for the construction of an adequate road network. For comparative purposes, the average investment of the USA and the European Union was 1% between 1995 and 2013, even though they already have a much more advanced road infrastructure than Brazil.
The country still has several states where paved access to 100% of the state's municipalities has not yet been reached. Some states have 100% of cities with asphalt access, such as Santa Catarina, which reached this goal in 2014; Paraíba, which reached this goal in 2017, and Alagoas, which reached this goal in 2021. In states like Rio Grande do Sul, in 2020, there were still 54 cities without asphalt access. In Paraná, in 2021, there were still 4 cities without asphalt access. In Minas Gerais, in 2016, there were still 5 cities without asphalt access.
As it is in the United States, Canada, and most countries in Europe, larger/wider highways have higher speed limits than normal urban roads, although minor highways, unpaved highways and sections of major highways running inside urban areas have a lower speed limit in general. The national speed limit for cars driving in non-urban roads is unless otherwise stated, regardless of the road design, weather or daylight.
Nomenclature
Brazilian State highways are named YY-XXX, where YY is the abbreviation of the state which administers the highway and XXX is a number.Brazilian National highways are named BR-XXX. National highways connect multiple states together, are of major importance to the national economy and/or connect Brazil to another country. The meaning of the numbers are:
- 000-099 - means that the highway runs radially from Brasília. It is an exception to the cases below.
- 100-199 - means that the highway runs south–north
- 200-299 - means that the highway runs west–east
- 300-399 - means that the highway runs diagonally. Highways with odd numbers run northeast–southwest, while even numbers run northwest–southeast.
- 400-499 - means that the highway interconnects between two major highways.
- 600-699 - is a special designation given to highways of national importance but that just interconnect a highway to an important location. There currently are only two such highways in the country: BR-600 which connects the Itaipu Dam to BR-277 and BR-610 which connects Guarulhos International Airport to BR-116 and SP-070.
See highway system of São Paulo for the numbering designation used for São Paulo state roads, which is also used in some other states.
Major Federal Brazilian Highways
BR-010
The BR-010 is a radial highway that connects the national capital Brasília, to the city of Belém, in the state of Pará. It has the official name of Rodovia Bernardo Sayão, and is also called Belém–Brasília Highway or as Transbrasiliana Highway, in the stretch between the city of Estreito, in the state of Maranhão, and the city of Belém. This is due to the fact that between Brasília and Estreito, the highway has many incomplete and unpaved stretches, especially in the state of Tocantins. Between Brasília and Estreito, the original route of the Belém-Brasília Highway follows the BR-060, the BR-153 and the BR-226 highways, which are completely paved in this stretch. The BR-010 passes through the Federal District, and the states of Goiás, Tocantins, Maranhão and Pará.BR-020
The BR-020 connects Fortaleza in Ceará to the federal capital Brasília. Like other BRs that start with the number 0, it leaves Brasília to an extreme point in Brazil. The highway is important because passes through the MATOPIBA region, which is an important producer of soybeans, corn and cotton, among other products. It connects the interior of the Northeast to the Port of Mucuripe, in Fortaleza.BR-040
BR-040 runs radially from near the national capital Brasília, in a northwest–southeast way, to Rio de Janeiro city.BR-040 is the modern way of the so-called "Caminho Novo", opened in the 18th century that linked Ouro Preto, the main center of gold mines of Minas Gerais to the Rio de Janeiro harbor.
In 1861 the road was paved from Petrópolis to Juiz de Fora, becoming the first road paved in Latin America until the 1920s. In 1928, Petrópolis was connected to Rio de Janeiro with a paved road.
In the 1930s the route was changed to pass by the new capital of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, although it was unpaved until 1957, when the road was extended to Brasília, the new capital of Brazil.
From 1951 to 1973 BR-040 was called BR-3 and was famous for its dangerous bends, such as the Viaduto das Almas, near Belo Horizonte, disabled in 2010. In the 1970s the part from Rio de Janeiro to Juiz de Fora was modernized and became a two-laned road.
Cities where the BR-040 runs or passes by: Luislândia, Belo Horizonte, Juiz de Fora, Rio de Janeiro.