The Estrada de Rodagem União e Indústria (''Union and Industry Highway''), connecting the cities of

Petrópolis Petrópolis (; ), also known as The Imperial City, is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region of Brazil. It is located in the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro, northeast of the ci ...

and

Juiz de Fora Juiz de Fora (, '' Outsider Judge''), also known as J.F., is a city in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, approximately from the state border with Rio de Janeiro. According to 2020 estimates the current population is about 57 ...

in the southeast of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, was the first

macadamized Macadam is a type of road construction, pioneered by Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam around 1820, in which crushed stone is placed in shallow, convex layers and compacted thoroughly. A binding layer of stone dust (crushed stone from the o ...

road in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

. It was opened on 23 June 1861 by the emperor

Dom Pedro II Don (honorific), Dom PedroII (2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed "the Magnanimity, Magnanimous" ( pt, O Magnânimo), was the List of monarchs of Brazil, second and last monarch of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. ...

History

The project began in 1854 when Mariano Procópio Ferreira Lage was awarded the concession for the construction of the road from Petropolis. He created the União e Indústria (''Union and Industry'') company whose profits were to come from tolls charged to users. Work began on 12 April 1856 in the presence of Dom Pedro II and the imperial family and a plaque commemorating this event still exists at the beginning of the Avenida Barão do Rio Branco in Juiz de Fora. The first section to be completed was opened on 18 April 1858 and connected Vila Teresa with Pedro do Rio, a total of . From Pedro do Rio the road was extended to Posse in the following two years. Finally, on 23 June 1861, Dom Pedro II and representatives of the company travelled the full from Petrópolis to Juiz de Fora in a

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

. The opening of the road was significant for Juiz de Fora, turning it into an important trading centre. It also gave rise to the first travel guide to Brazil "Doze Horas em Diligência - Guia do Viajante de Petrópolis a Juiz de Fora" (''Twelve Hours in a Stagecoach – A Traveler's Guide to Petrópolis to Juiz de Fora'') by Revert Henrique Klumb, published in 1872. Over time the original road was modified in various stretches. Between Petropolis and Itaipava, and between Areal and Alberto Torres new roads were opened in the mid-twentieth century, and in 1980 the entire road was replaced by the BR-040 dual carriageway trunk from

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

to Brasilia leaving the former União e Indústria with only local traffic.

The Road Today

Today the road forms part of the road systems of the states of

and

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

. It is designated RJ-134 between Petrópolis and Areal, BR-393 in

Três Rios Três Rios (, ) is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. As of 2020 its population was an estimated 82,142 inhabitants, and its area is around . The current mayor of Três Rios is Joacir Barbaglio Pereira (known as Joa ...

, RJ-151 from

Comendador Levy Gasparian Comendador Levy Gasparian () is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous ...

to Mont Serrat, MG-874 between Simão Pereira and

Matias Barbosa Matias Barbosa is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais in the Southeast region of Brazil. See also *List of municipalities in Minas Gerais This is a list of the municipalities in the state of Minas Gerais (MG), located in the Southeast ...

and finally BR-267 from Matias Barbosa to Juiz de Fora Several buildings and bridges remain from the old União e Indústria, among them the Santana bridge in Alberto Torres, restored by the government. There are also the Domingos Soares da Veiga viaduct in Areal, the Bridge of Herons in Três Rios and the former Paraibuna station in Mont'Serrat, municipality of Comendador Levy Gasparian, which was built in 1856 for the change of mules. Located in a French-style cottage, since June 23, 1972, the station has housed the road museum, dedicated to the history of the União e Indústria and Brazil's trunk road network. A major exhibit is the stagecoach "Mazeppa" in which Pedro II made the first voyage on the road between Petrópolis and Juiz de Fora. "Mazeppa" is the only remaining coach of the União e Indústria.

External links

A Estrada União e Indústria
{{DEFAULTSORT:Estrada Uniao e Industria Roads in Brazil