Growth of the federal paved network was 43% in the period, lower than the previous decades
Brazil’s road infrastructure had a shy advance in 40 years of democratic regime. The country reached 66,520 km of federal highways paved by 2024 compared to 46,455 km registered in 1985. The increase in the period was 43.2%. The expansion during the 21 years of the military dictatorship (1964-1985) had much larger growth of 282.1%.
The data from 1964 to 2011 are from (National Department of Transport Infrastructure). The information until 2024 came from a and (National Confederation of Transport).
This is the evolution of road extension in the 40 years of democracy:
Expressive numbers during the Armed Forces Command (as shown in the most below) can be explained by some particular factors. The military government began with 12,157 km of paved highways – relatively small. Thus, any expansion would be naturally more significant compared to a greater extension.
The military also had a greater concentration of budgetary resources compared to democratic governments. This was the characteristic of the authoritarian regime, which had full control of budgetary power.
In the following infographic, the evolution of the highways from 1964 to 1985:
Already the period after the dictatorship was marked by the road concessions. The government transferred to private initiative the management and maintenance of highways by collecting tolls. The goal was to improve infrastructure and reduce public costs.
However, democracy was marked by the lack of investments in the road infrastructure sector, which still makes it difficult to expand the paved system.
Maintenance Locks Growth
According to a study by CNT private entity, road maintenance expense is one of the reasons for lower highway construction during democracy.
The survey shows that 78.6% of federal public investment on highways were applied in reparations by 2023. The construction of new highways accounted for 7.4% of the total.
“The increase in the vehicle fleet has intensified the use of road infrastructure. However, most of the road floors have been sized and executed for years, using empirical methods and with the useful life.says the text. Read A (PDF – 13 MB).
Civil engineer, former senator and former Minister of Transport in the Government of (PT), César Borges It states that the resources of the democratic period are more dispersed in comparison with the military regime. Currently, they need to move to other levels of power before they reach the final investment.
Borges cites as an example the amendments of congressmen, funds from the Union budget that deputies and senators allocate to their states.
“In the military regime, it was a more planned economy, more centralized in the executive, which was strong, because it is dictatorship”says the former minister.
According to Borges, it was simpler for the military to allocate the money needed to invest more in the infrastructure and expand the highways.
Still, many of the infrastructure works in the period were suspected of corruption during the buildings. In to the Poder360 for the special series launched at the end of 2022, Professor Pedro Henrique Pedreira Campos, from UFRRJ (Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro), PhD in History from UFF (Fluminense Federal University), reported some episodes.
According to him, the companies were “Fartarly involved” In irregularities – paying bribes, bid fraud, prior competition and additives during the works.
“They did not have the control mechanisms, by a typical rule of law: free press overseeing the processes, prosecutor acting, independent Federal Police, parliamentary opposition being able to oversee.”he declared.
O (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) made a road mapping of Brazil in 1960 and 2021. Compare the images in the gallery below.
Drag the blue line to see the before and after (IBGE Images):
Railway
There was a reduction in the extension of the Brazilian rail network during military governments. For the lowest cost, the expansion of federal roads was prioritized. The movement was against other countries.
The mesh went from 34,262 km in 1964 to 29,777 km in 1985, considering the train lines still in traffic. The fall was 13.1%.
The numbers are from an IBGE series that is already discontinued. Were made available in a collection of the organ.
Read the evolution of the railway network of Brazil:
“The federal government, at the time of the military regime, created the Federal Railway Network and did not invested, and was deteriorating the entire railway network we had.”said Borges.
Even with democratization, no new investments in train lines were made.
There are no consolidated historical records on the extension of Brazil’s railways every year of the democratic regime. The most reliable data is in a report of the TCU (Court of Auditors of the Union) published in 2024, which reports a mesh of 30,535 km.
Compared to the IBGE data, the expansion in almost 40 years was 2.5% – the insignificance. In addition, the court states thatless than 2 trains per day. Here (PDF – 14 MB).
“Whether he is a road, rail, port, waterway, airway, we have to invest a lot in this area”, Borges states. “Then the country is part, the economies are complementary to one state with the other and the whole country develops.”
O Poder360 Prepared a special series of reports on the 40 years of democracy in Brazil. Read below:
Read the special series interviews:
