State-of-the-Art of Road Transport Brazil

The continental area of Brazil comprises 8.5 million square kilometres. It has 23,102 kilometres of borders with neighbour nations in South America and 7,362 kilometres of coast with the Atlantic Ocean. The population of Brazil was 180 million inhabitants in 2004. This population is not distributed evenly, but rather unequally, being more concentrated near the coastline and in the southern and northeast states.

The second half of last century saw a continuous and fast rate of urbanization (81% in 2004). This factor sharply increased traffic and congestion in large cities.  Transport has always been, and still is, a key issue and a priority for the country - in urban areas and for long and medium distance highways - for both the transport of both people and goods.

The total number of vehicles in Brazil at the end of 2005 was around 33 million, 26.4 million cars, 2.7 million pickups / SUVs, 1.7 million trucks, 1.7 million light trucks (commercial), 340,000 million busses and 260,000 tractor trucks. Two wheelers were close to 9 million. Local production of 4+ wheelers was approximately 2.5 million, and two wheelers around 1.2 million.

Total road (excluding urban) extension is 1.7 million kilometres, but from these roads 1.4 million is unpaved. There are 57,300 km of federal paved highways, with 2,300 km double lane. State paved highways comprise 77,200 km, with 3,200 km double lane. The total amount of paved roads is around 300,000 km.