The North region, which concentrates seven of the nine states constituting the Amazon, has 77,8% of its roads in regular, bad or extremely bad condition, according to the 2021 Road Survey, promoted by National Transport Confederation (CNT). This percentage indicates that most paved roads are worn, present cracks, patches, subsidence, holes, or are completely destroyed. These figures represent a regional reality that brings several problems to the Amazonian development.
According to the CNT, road transport is still the main modal used in Brazil. It is responsible for more than 60% of the national cargo handling. Even so, various challenges are faced, as you will read in this initial report of the Liberal Amazon series on logistics challenges for transportation. In three editions, we will address the challenges and potentials faced by of each modal.
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The Road Survey aims at analyzing the current scenario and also points out the losses stemming from this context, such as the operating costs for carrying out transport services, which are 40.4% higher in the North region if compared to the estimated cost considering highways in good condition and factors such as: vehicle maintenance expenses, tire and brakes wear and replacement, higher engine demand and fuel consumption per kilometer driven. In addition to representing meaningful losses for the sector, the current condition of the highways in the North region brings environmental costs as well, such as the waste of diesel and higher emissions of polluting gases.
According to Elaine Radel, Executive Manager of Transport Development at CNT, the lack of infrastructure on highways also results in significant costs for competitiveness in the export market. “When compared to other countries with lesser infrastructure problems, the product arrives at the port at a much higher cost. Considering that we move more than 60% of the national cargo on railroads, it is worrying to have such a poor road network in the country”, she points out.
Both, Industry and farming sectors, are examples of the markets impacted by the highways precarious conditions. According to the Superintendent of Federation of Industries of the State of Rondônia, Gilberto Baptista, despite having technology and high production capacity, agribusiness loses ground in international competition when it comes to the transport stage, as it presents a more complex and dangerous logistics. “You have expensive highways for transportation, recurring robberies and a lot of traffic accidents. This brings a major obstacle to the economy and logistics”, he explains.
Roads lack shoulders and basic protective devices
In addition to financial costs and the higher emission of polluting gases, the current condition of highways in the North brings significant damages to the public health system due to the high incidence of accidents.
Among the problems raised by the research, is the signaling: 76.3% of the signaling along the entire length of the road network in the region are considered regular, bad or extremely bad. On top of that, 56.1% of the evaluated sections lack proper shouldering and 24.1% of the sections with dangerous curves do not have signs at all. “The shoulders and basic protection devices (guardrails or concrete barriers) play a fundamental role in the road safety of these structures, as they have the function of preventing the fall of the runaway vehicle, absorbing the side shock or allowing the vehicle to be brought back to the road. traffic lane”, highlights the text of the report.
Family suffered serious accident in the interior of Pará
While trying to find the shoulder to avoid a pothole in the highway, Marcelo Silva, engineer, 28, had a serious accident. In March 2021, he was accompanied by his sister, engineer Mônica Silva, 21, and his wife, physical educator Isadora Bethânia, 33. The family was moving from the municipality of Salinópolis, Northeast of Pará, towards the state capital, Belém for a prenatal medical appointment for Isadora, who was four months pregnant.
As they passed kilometer 55 of BR-316 road, near the bridge in the village of Apeú, in Castanhal, Marcelo noticed a large hole in the curve and, when trying to swerve, he came across the shoulder that was flooded and full of weeds and garbage. “The water on the side of the road hit the rubble and flowed into the road. When I went around the corner, the car went out of control and skidded. It kept turning several times until it overturned”, recalls the engineer. Fortunately, all passengers had only minor injuries. “It was a miracle. Today, it is a great relief to think that we were not injured, moving on with life, and even my daughter is healthy, (the accident) had no impact on the pregnancy,” says Marcelo.
Almost four thousand deaths on the highways of Pará, in three years
According to data from Departamento de Trânsito do Estado (Detran/PA) [State Traffic Department], Pará, between 2019 and 2021 there were almost 88 thousand accidents, and of this number, almost 4 thousand people lost their lives on the highways of Pará.
Engineer Marcelo Silva, who escaped with his family from the serious accident in the municipality of Castanhal-Pará, lives in the interior of the state, in the municipality of Santa Maria do Pará and is used to driving on the state's roads. He reports that he has already witnessed many accidents. “Especially here, in the interior of the state, many people ride motorcycles. So, sometimes holes that might be considered minor turn out to be fatal. I recently saw a motorcyclist who tried to dodge a pothole and ended up colliding with a truck and died. The danger is constant,” he says.
Region lacks almost R$ 8 billion Reais in investments
The Road Survey, carried out by the National Transport Confederation, indicates that currently the highways in the North region are in such a precarious condition that an investment of approximately R$ 7.8 billion Reais would be necessary for emergency actions, maintenance and reconstruction of roads.
The lack of infrastructure is a cost paid by the final consumer of different products. According to Everson Costa, technician and researcher at the Interunion Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies of Pará (Dieese-Pa) extra fuel expenses, for example, which are among the losses resulting from poor road conditions, impact the value of products sold in supermarkets. "Although agricultural production in Pará is constantly growing, most of the products in our base feeding grounds today is still imported from other states, such as tomatoes and rice - which are imported from Goiás. One of the factors that highly impact the import cost is the shipping price. Due to road bad conditions, the delivery deadline is extended and the cost of fuel also increases. This scenario results in raising the final price of the product", he explains.
The Liberal Amazon reporters contacted the National Department of infrastructure and Transport (DNIT), managing and executing agency of federal highways, for a position on the situation of highways in the North region. However, no response from the institution was received until the closing of this edition.
Solution depends on strategic planning
The science director of the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (IPAM) [Environment Research Institute of the Amazon], Ane Alencar, was part of a team from five countries in the Amazon region (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru), which analyzed 75 projects for the construction of new highways. After analyzing factors such as estimated traffic and investment, they concluded that 45% of these projects would have a higher cost for construction and maintenance than the total dividends they could generate.
The study was published in 2020 in the American scientific journal PNAS, from the Science National Academy of the United States. According to the IPAM director, one of the aspects commonly neglected in the projects is the migratory movement that emerges from the construction of a new road, when entire families move searching for job positions and life opportunities. ““This negligence results on more pressure over public services, such as health care and education, for example, as a consequence, city mayors will need to find solutions to solve the demand”, he emphasizes.
The environmental impacts related to the lack of planning and observed in the research conducted by the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (IPAM) encompass: unnecessary deforestation, increased polluting gases emission and depletion of local biodiversity. These simultaneous factors also aggravate problems related to health, climate and other issues that directly impact the quality of life of the population. “That’s why it is necessary to have strategic planning since the beginning of a new highway project until the stage after the paving, following the entire process of migratory occupation, socio-environmental impacts, in an orderly manner and with governance, aiming to reduce the pressure that this road could cause in these areas”, she says.
Integration of transport modes is necessary for the whole country
According to Ane Alencar, a solution for the development and improvement of transport in the Amazon also involves transport mode integration. “Before building a waterway, a highway, a railway, it is necessary to deeply evaluate what already exists in a region and what can be improved, what are, in fact, the positive and negative impacts of each type of transport. Then, develop integrated and sustainable strategies”, she summarizes.
The manager of the National Transport Confederation, Elaine Radel, reinforces this statement. With transport mode integration in the country, according to her, the most appropriate logistic would be to move heavier loads, which run greater distances and have longer delivery deadlines by railways and waterways; to move lighter loads and shorter distances on highways, and products with higher added value and shorter delivery deadline by air. “Currently, all sectors need investment”, she points out.
The other transport modes (railways, waterways and air transport) will also be discussed more deeply in the next articles by Liberal Amazon. Follow up over the next few weeks.
In Acre State, 100% of the highways have some kind of problem
The state of Acre, which has a territorial extension of 164,173.431km² (almost eight times smaller than the state of Pará, for example), stands out in the CNT Highway Survey for having all highways classified as regular, bad or extremely bad. For emergency actions alone, an investment of R$ 1.5 billion Reais would be necessary, according to the research.
Regarding accidents, data from the Yearbook of the Federal Road Police indicate that there were 255 accidents in 2021 on federal roads in Acre, resulting in 22 deaths. In the state roads, there were 413 accidents in 2021, resulting in 16 deaths, according to information from the Military Police Department of Acre.
Precarious conditions also affect highways across the country
Although the North region experiences the worst road scenario in Brazil, the two most precarious highways in the country, according to the CNT Highway Survey, are in the South region. They are: BR-163 road (overlapping with BR-282). in the state of Santa Catarina, and the RS-153 road (overlapping with BR-153 and BR-471), in Rio de Grande do Sul, which are in the first and second places, respectively.
The North region, however, is in the ranking of the ten worst roads with three highways: AC-405 and AC-010, in Acre, and AM-010, in Amazonas. In addition, MA-006 Road, in Maranhão, a state in the Northeast that is part of the Legal Amazon, is in the 9th place in the ranking.
Maranhão and Mato Grosso roads (in the Central-West region), both part of the Legal Amazon, are in poor conditions according to the CNT Survey and urgently need investments. Maranhão has 79.3% of highways in a regular, bad or extremely bad condition, which would require R$ 3.7 billion for emergency recovery actions. In Mato Grosso, 64.1% of the highways have this same classification and, according to the CNT Survey, R$ 2.3 billion would be necessary for emergency actions.
In the road scenario per regions, considering the classification as regular, bad or extremely bad, in addition to the North region in first position, there are: South region, in second, with 64.7% of the highways in regular, bad or extremely bad condition; in third place is the Northeast region (64.1%), followed by the Central-West (61.3%) and Southeast (51.1%).
Ranking of the 10 worst roads in Brazil
1. BR-163 (Overlap with BR-282): between the municipalities Dionísio Cerqueira and São Miguel do Oeste (SC)
2. RS-153 (Overlap with BR-153 and BR-471): between Barros Cassal and Vera Cruz (RS)
3. AC-405 (Overlap with BR-364): between the municipalities Mâncio Lima, Rodrigues Alves and Cruzeiro do Sul (AC)
4. AC-010, between the municipalities of Porto Acre and Rio Branco (AC)
5. AM-010, between the cities of Manaus and Itacoatiara (AM)
6. BA-122 (Overlap with BR-122, BR-330 and BR-349): between the municipalities of Morro do Chapéu and Seabra (BA)
7. PE-177: between the municipalities of Quipapá and Garanhuns (PE)
8. PE-545 (Overlap with BR-122): between the cities of Exu and Ouricuri (PE)
9. MA-006 (Overlap with BR-330): between the municipalities of Buriticupu and Alto Parnaíba (MA)
10. PE-096: between the municipalities of Palmares and Barreiros (PE)
Source: National Road Survey 2021
Check out, below, the states of the Brazilian Amazon and their respective percentages of highways in a regular, bad or extremely bad condition
1. Acre 100%
2. Amapá 96,7%
3. Amazonas 95,1%
4. Rondônia 89,4%
5. Maranhão 79,3%
6. Pará 79,2%
7. Tocantins 65,1%
8. Mato Grosso 64,1%
9. Roraima 42,5%
Source: National Road Survey 2021
