With an investment of R$3.9 billion, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva inaugurated the Greater Florianópolis Bypass this Friday (9). Managed by the concessionaire Arteris, the road project diverts all long-distance traffic from the metropolitan region of the capital of Santa Catarina. The change, from now on, provides an alternative to the heavy traffic on the BR-101, which cuts through the metropolitan region.
The people of Santa Catarina have been waiting for at least ten years for the project, Lula highlighted that, in 18 months, the government resumed investments and managed to complete the project. “In Brazil, many times, governments come and go and you don’t see any work completed,” said Lula, highlighting the importance of the New Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) for the country’s development and coordination of government priorities.
“I am very proud to be here inaugurating a project that we began in 2008. In just 18 months, we managed to complete 40% of everything that was done on this project, because I adopted the motto of reconstruction and unity in my government,” added the president, also talking about the thousands of projects that were halted and were resumed in his current government.
Lula said that, as he does in every state he visits, he invited the governor of Santa Catarina, Jorginho Mello, to participate in the event. An ally of former president Jair Bolsonaro, Mello did not attend, but sent vice-governor Marilisa Boehm.
“I don’t know this governor here, so I can’t say anything bad about him, but he missed the opportunity to participate in the inauguration of the most important project in the state of Santa Catarina. I can’t understand it. The vice-governor can see that if he came here he would be treated with respect, he would make a speech that he wanted to make, no one would control what he said, and the mayor is the same. Unfortunately, there are people who think small, there are people who act small and don’t see the needs of the Brazilian people,” he said.
The Greater Florianópolis Ring Road was designed to improve mobility, with 50 kilometers of dual carriageways, six interchanges, seven bridges and four dual tunnels. The ring road will have an operating speed of 100 kilometers per hour and was built without steep inclines or slopes, being flatter and having only gentle curves, avoiding the need for speed reductions and ensuring the characteristic of an express corridor.
Around 18,000 truck drivers will use the highway every day and will no longer have to travel on the BR-101 highway between the cities of Biguaçu and Palhoça in the metropolitan region, reducing the journey time to 40 minutes and saving 50% of the time during peak hours. More than 1.1 million people who live or work in the surrounding area will also be impacted by the project.
Impacts
According to the government, there was also concern about the environmental impacts of the project. During construction, 13 environmental programs were implemented to protect the region’s ecosystems. Among the actions, for example, were saving wildlife, preserving indigenous culture, rescuing flora and compensatory planting.
More than 14,000 seedlings were planted to ensure the conservation of local biodiversity, with different native species. Around 56,000 exotic species were also removed, contributing to the regeneration of the restinga.
During the works, more than a dozen archaeological sites were identified and 7,990 artifacts were rescued and preserved in safekeeping institutions. The National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (Iphan) monitored the archaeological work.
In the metropolitan region, there are also ten Guarani indigenous communities close to the bypass works. In fact, the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) of the project considered the social and historical situation of the communities, developing impact reduction measures that, according to the government, were carried out in a participatory manner.
