Rodovia Belém-Brasília

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Itinerary map of BR-010

Rodovia Belém-Brasília (official designation BR-010, official name Rodovia Engenheiro Bernardo Sayão) is a federal highway in Brazil. It is named after its chief engineer, who died in an accident during the construction of the highway, when a tree fell over his tent. It is one of the longest highways in South America, running in an almost perfect North-South direction from the city of Belém, in the state of Pará and the Federal capital city of Brasília.

The total length of the highway is 1,950 km, passing through the Federal District and four states:

Federal District: 44.6 km
State of Goiás: 287.9 km
State of Tocantins: 773.2 km
State of Maranhão: 379.1 km
State of Pará: 465,3 km

It interconnects with the Rodovia Transbrasiliana at the level of the Federal District, thus forming a continuous North-South highway until reaching the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

[edit] History

This was the first road built in the 1960s through the unforgiving Amazon rainforest. Its construction was one of the highest achievements of road engineering, due to the enormous difficulties faced by designing it and by the construction crews (more than 5,000 courses of water had to be conquered, and new ways of bulldozing and felling massive trees higher than 50 m and with girths exceeding 4 to 5 m in diameter had to be devised. Initially it was a dirt road, but in the succeeding years it was macadamized and more permanent bridges were built.

The Belém-Brasília highway was fundamental to bring modernity (and also create havoc with the aboriginal people who inhabited its passageway) to a completely wild region. Many agricultural settlements and entire new cities, with its suite of commerce, industry, etc, sprang along the highway. It was also the first land connection between Belém, one of the two capítals of the Amazon region (the other being Manaus) and the rest of the country, so that the economic potential and development of the region could be increased. In its beginning, a trip through the road was a dangerous undertaking, due to the presence of wild animals such as the ferocious spotted jaguars and poisonous snakes, and also of road banditry (carrying a rifle in the vehicle was deemed essential). There were no hotels, gasoline stations and restaurants along the highway and travellers had to carry their own supplies. Today, it entails a rather banal drive of approximately 2 days.