Rodoanel Mário Covas (official designation SP-021) is the planned (and partially built)

beltway A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...

of the

Greater São Paulo Greater São Paulo ( pt, Grande São Paulo) is a nonspecific term for one of the multiple definitions of the large metropolitan area located in the São Paulo state in Brazil. Definitions Metropolitan Area A legally defined specific term, ''Reg ...

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 ...

. Upon its completion, it will have a length of , with a radius of approximately from the geographical center of the city. It was named after

Mário Covas Mário Covas Almeida Júnior ( or ; 21 April 1930 – 6 March 2001) was a Brazilian politician. Biography Covas studied engineering at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo. He entered politics in his native city of Santos, i ...

, who was mayor of the city of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

(1983–1985) and a

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

(1994-1998/1998-2001) until his death from cancer. It is a

controlled access highway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

with a

speed limit Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expres ...

of under normal weather and traffic circumstances.

History

The first section was inaugurated in October 2002, starting at the ''Estrada Velha de Campinas'' (lit. Old Road of Campinas), in the northern part of São Paulo, and ending at the Régis Bittencourt highway, in Embu, covering . It crosses

Anhanguera Anhanguera may refer to: People * Bartolomeu Bueno da Silva (1672–1740), a bandeirante Places in Brazil * Anhanguera, Goiás, a municipality in the state of Goiás * Anhanguera (district of São Paulo), a district in São Paulo * Parque Anhan ...

Bandeirantes The ''Bandeirantes'' (), literally "flag-carriers", were slavers, explorers, adventurers, and fortune hunters in early Colonial Brazil. They are largely responsible for Brazil's great expansion westward, far beyond the Tordesillas Line of 1494 ...

, Castelo Branco, and Raposo Tavares highways. There are urban accesses to the cities of

Osasco Osasco () is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in São Paulo State, Brazil, located in the Greater São Paulo and ranking 5th in population among São Paulo municipalities. According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, ...

and

Carapicuíba Carapicuíba () is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 403,183 (2020 est.) in an area of . It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in the sta ...

, but it also crosses through the municipalities of

Barueri Barueri ( or ) is a Brazilian municipality in the State of São Paulo located in the northwestern part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 276,982 (2020 est.) in an area of . Its boundaries are Santana de Parnaíba to th ...

Santana de Parnaíba Santana de Parnaíba is a city and municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 142,301 (2020 est.) in an area of . It was founded in 1625 near the Tietê River by Susana ...

, Embu,

Cotia Cotia is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 253,608 (2020 est.) in an area of 323.99 km². The city is at an elevation of 853 m. Cotia is linked with th ...

, and

. The current segment has three

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

s, one of them being the largest and widest one in Brazil, with , 62

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

s and six

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

s. On September 15, 2006, the State Government announced the start of the construction of the South Segment, which would link the west segment to the Anchieta and Imigrantes highways and ending in Papa João XXIII Avenue in

Mauá Mauá () is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, in Brazil. Is part of the metropolitan region of São Paulo. The population as of 2020 is 477,552 inhabitants (11th largest city in population number of the state), the density is and the ar ...

. It would serve as a corridor for more than 250,000 trucks per month which must go through the city of São Paulo in order to interconnect to or from the city port of Santos, which is accessible via the two highways cited above. During the construction, a major accident happened when three recently installed ledges fell on the Régis Bittencourt highway, hitting three cars and injuring three people. The construction was expected to take almost five years, mainly due to the complex urban zones and difficult terrain it would cross (including a series of artificial

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

s and

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

s and a mountainous region), but it ended up being inaugurated in April 2010, although some sections were missing guard rails and proper traffic signs. Upon its completion, estimated for 2025, it will have interconnected the

Fernão Dias Fernão Dias Pais Leme (1608–1681) or was a frontiersman from São Paulo. He was known as the "Emerald Hunter" and was one of the most prominent bandeirantes together with Antônio Raposo Tavares. He is the great-great-grandfather of the Saint ...

(in the North Segment), Presidente Dutra (opened in 2015) and

Ayrton Senna Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver who won the Formula One List of Formula One World Drivers' Champions, World Drivers' Championship in , , and . Senna is one of three Formula One drivers fro ...

(opened in 2015) East Segment main highways, besides many other smaller ones.

Importance

The São Paulo Beltway is considered a major

strategic Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...

investment for the efficiency of road transportation in the economically most important region of the country. São Paulo is a

megacity A megacity is a very large city, typically with a population of more than 10 million people. Precise definitions vary: the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in its 2018 "World Urbanization Prospects" report counted urban ...

, with a population in excess of 20 million inhabitants, and more than 6 million vehicles. Most of the cargo transported by road or other modalities back and forth from the port of Santos today pass through the city of São Paulo generating incredible

traffic jam Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic de ...

s at all hours of the day, with a loss of more than 1.7 billion hours per year (more than 25 million trips a day). Although the city already has an inner beltway (called the Marginals, see

Marginal Pinheiros Marginal Pinheiros (officially SP-015) is a section of the highway that runs through the city of São Paulo, Brazil along the Pinheiros River. It is one of the most important roads in São Paulo, linking the north and south zones, though this ea ...

and

Marginal Tietê Marginal Tietê (officially SP-015) is a section of this highway that runs through the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The name of this section comes from the fact that each way of the expressway runs near a different waterfront of the Tietê River. ...

), it is over 30 years old and its capacity is completely saturated since (up until the construction of the Rodoanel) it is the only connection between the major highways around the city of São Paulo. It has been estimated already that more than 30% of the Marginal's traffic was relieved as a consequence. A recent study, however, has shown that the impact of the Rodoanel in the traffic of São Paulo will quickly diminish, since the number of new cars sold in the city breaks records successively and will quickly compensate for the absence of trucks in the city. The importance of the Beltway is underlined by popular approval, with June 2004 showing 85% approval rates, 86% of users deeming it a very important resource, and 80% of positive aspects. More than 300,000 vehicles (78% of them automobiles) use the Beltway every day. The system has an estimated peak capacity of 700,000 vehicles per day.

Management

The Western section, completed in 2002, is a

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented ...

managed by a private group called CCR. The Southern section (opened in 2010) is managed by SEMPER, who won the public tender to manage, collect tolls and also to build and collect tolls on the recently finished Eastern section.

Tolls

CCR RodoAnel has 13 toll plazas installed by the extension of the western section of the Mário Covas ring road, and the collection of the fare is only carried out once every trip at the exits of the highway. The values are adjusted annually in July based on the variation of the Extended National Consumer Price Index (IPCA), as established in a contract with the Government of the State of São Paulo. The payment of the toll is reversed in investment in works on the roads and the collection of taxes on the tariff is destined to the municipalities cut by the highway. In 2012, CCR RodoAnel made a transfer of R $9 million to the 7 municipalities through which the highway passes.

References

External links