Rodovia Presidente Dutra
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Rodovia Presidente Dutra is a federal highway which runs through the eastern part of the state of São Paulo and southwestern region of the state Rio de Janeiro. It is the part of BR-116 connecting the city of São Paulo to the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Major cities connected by this part of BR-116 are the city of São Paulo, Jacareí, São José dos Campos, Taubaté, Pindamonhangaba, Guaratingetá, Resende, Barra Mansa and the city of Rio de Janeiro.
It covers a total distance of 402 km, starting at the Trevo das Margaridas in Rio de Janeiro and ending at the junction with Marginal Tietê in São Paulo. It merges with Rodovia Ayrton Senna in the county of Guararema and has junctions with Rodovia Fernão Dias, BR-354 and BR-459.
Via Dutra is considered the most important Brazilian highway since it connects the two biggest and most important cities of Brazil and runs through the richest region of the country, o Paraíba Valley. It also is the most important connection between the South Region, Brazil and the Northeast Region, Brazil.
[edit] History
The first road between the city of São Paulo and the city of Rio de Janeiro was built by the Washington Luis government and inaugurated on May 5th 1928.
At the end of the 1940s industrialization and the necessity of a faster, safer and more efficient and modern road connection of the two biggest cities led to the construction of the Rodovia Presidente Dutra as it is known today. It was inaugurated on January 19th of 1951 by the President Eurico Gaspar Dutra and called BR-2. It was normal two lane road with exception of the stretches between São Paulo and Guarulhos and in the Baixada Fluminense where it was a four lane dual carriageway
In the 1960s it had various stretches converted to four lane dual carriageway. In 1967 it was completed as a four lane divided motorway in all its extension.
In the 1970s traffic has been eased on the Via Dutra due to the construction of the Rodovia dos Trabalhadores, now called Rodovia Ayrton Senna and its part built in the 1990s called Rodovia Governador Carvalho Pinto leading up to Taubaté.
The highway is managed and maintained by a state concession to the private company NovaDutra S/A since March 1996, and therefore is a toll road. Since then it has improved in quality and safety.
