Trans-Amazonian highway
Encyclopedia
The Trans-Amazonian Highway (official designation BR-230, official name Rodovia Transamazônica), was inaugurated on August 30, 1972. It is 5,300 km long, making it the third longest highway in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. It runs through the Brazilian states of Piaui
Piauí
Piauí is one of the states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country.Piauí has the shortest coastline of any of the non-landlocked Brazilian states at 66 km , and the capital, Teresina, is the only state capital in the north east to be located inland...

, Maranhão
Maranhão
Maranhão is a northeastern state of Brazil. To the north lies the Atlantic Ocean. Maranhão is neighbored by the states of Piauí, Tocantins and Pará. The people of Maranhão have a distinctive accent...

, Tocantins
Tocantins
Tocantins may refer to:* Tocantins, a state in Brazil* Tocantins River, a river in Brazil* Survivor: Tocantins, a reality show set in Tocantins, Brazil* Tocantins Esporte Clube, a Brazilian football club...

, Pará
Pará
Pará is a state in the north of Brazil. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest it also borders Guyana and Suriname, and to the northeast it borders the Atlantic Ocean. The capital is Belém.Pará is the most populous state...

 and Amazonas, from the proximities of Saboeiro
Saboeiro
Saboeiro is a town and municipality in the state of Ceará in the Northeast region of Brazil.-References:...

 up until the town of Lábrea
Lábrea
Lábrea is the southernmost municipality in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Its population is 38,451 and its area is 68.508,6 km². The town is the seat of the Territorial Prelature of Lábrea....

.

The highway was intended to integrate these regions with the rest of the country, and with Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 and Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

. It was originally planned to be a fully paved highway 5200 kilometers long. However, these plans were modified following its inauguration.

In particular, because of high construction costs and Brazil financial crisis in the late 1970s, only a part of the highway was paved, from its beginning to 200 km ahead of Marabá
Marabá
Maraba is a city in the state of Pará, Brazil. The reference location is the meeting point between two great rivers, forming a sort of "y" in the city as seen from above...

. The lack of a fully sealed road causes many problems. Travel on the non-paved stretches of the highway is extremely difficult during the region's rainy season between October and March. In the wet season cars often get stuck in the poorly constructed road and in the dry season there are often pot holes in the dry mud roads that damage vehicles.

Construction of the highway was very challenging because of the remoteness of the site. Workers building the road were frequently isolated and without communication, occasional visits to nearby cities providing the only contact. However, severe techniques and procedures that evolved during the construction of Belém-Brasília Highway (BR-153) were then used. According to DNIT, roughly 800 km of the highway is due to be paved in the next 4 years, improving transport links in the central region of Pará
Pará
Pará is a state in the north of Brazil. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest it also borders Guyana and Suriname, and to the northeast it borders the Atlantic Ocean. The capital is Belém.Pará is the most populous state...

 state. The Brazilian Government are now planning to pave with tarmac the whole highway. As of December 2009, paving was underway between the town of Ruropolis and Itaituba and north to Santarém. This will connect soy plantations with overland trucking routes to the south of Brazil. The road has been left untouched however at points further west of Itaituba, at times narrowing to roughly 2 meters wide.

Access to the construction sites was mostly accomplished by small airplanes using temporary airstrips and boats. Today construction vehicles can be seen traversing the road east and west bringing dirt and gravel to prepare for paving operations.

It has indirectly caused a great deal of deforestation
Deforestation
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....

in Brazil - where there are roads it is easier to transport timber. Satellite images demonstrate how roads increase deforestation. Access roads branch perpendicularly off BR-230 allowing deeper penetration into the surrounding jungle areas. Originally these roads were to open up land for agriculture by settlers, the government motto "land without men for men without land" was coined to describe the development of the Amazon. However, loggers have used these roadways to further deforest the surrounding jungle.

The Trans-Amazonian Highway has offered an overland route into remote areas of the Amazon. Some adventurers have used this route to traverse the width of the Amazon jungle. Over the history of the Trans-Amazonian Highway one woman and three men have cycled BR-230 including Louise Sutherland of New Zealand. She was the first person to take on this challenge and chronicled her journey in the now out of print book The Impossible Ride. Recently, Douglas Gunzelmann was the first American to successfully cycle the Trans-Amazonian Highway.
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