The Government of Pernambuco is betting on technology to conserve R$17.5 billion in road assets. A partnership with the Chinese company Hikvision is enabling tests that allow monitoring the condition of the pavement on nine thousand kilometers of highways. The objective of the measure is to ensure that public authorities have a more accurate and recent photograph of the most degraded points on the road network, which will support more assertive decisions in the investment of resources.
According to the Department of Highways (DER), the project works with a panoramic camera attached to a vehicle, which travels at up to 100 km/h to capture images of pavement failures. “We have already carried out the first tests and the team is very excited, because the accuracy of this equipment was 90%. So, we intend to pass this tool along all highways in the state and use this material to support decisions”, said the president of DER, Rivaldo Melo, at a public hearing of the Economic Development Commission of the Legislative Assembly of Pernambuco (Alepe).
According to the executive, the technology will help the agency prioritize the execution of works based on other factors that also need to be considered, such as the economic importance of a highway for a given region. “With the data we will receive, where we have the worst pavement, we will also consider variables such as traffic volume, economic importance, social context and, based on this, build a prioritization matrix for the government to make decisions. We have R$1 billion to invest in highways, it’s in the LOA [Lei Orçamentária Anual]but we have to optimize this resource”, he added.
Pernambuco has highways among the worst in Brazil
The conservation of highways is not a strong point in Pernambuco, a state that has been featured prominently in surveys on the worst Brazilian roads. In the 2023 edition of the CNT Rodovias Survey, from the National Transport Confederation, PE-096 and PE-126, both in Mata Sul, appeared on the list, repeating a poor performance that had already been recorded in the 2022 survey. , the Pernambuco Department of Mobility and Infrastructure reported that the two highways had undergone maintenance and were being analyzed for complete restoration of the pavement.
During the public hearing, the president of DER assessed that investments in Pernambuco’s state highways were, on average, R$ 260 million per year in the last decade, which, according to him, is “very little” and contributed to “ there was a very rapid degradation of the road network”. “DER’s estimated assets in roads are R$17.5 billion. It is a huge challenge, due to the size of this asset, to make it reasonably trafficable,” he declared.
Furthermore, as the portal Economic Movement showed in April, the delay in getting structuring works off the ground has affected economic hubs, such as the existing bottleneck on the BR-101, in Abreu e Lima, which blocks the flow of production from the Goiana Automotive Hub. The stretch is operated by the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT) and was promised that it would be freed up with the implementation of Miniarco by the Government of Pernambuco, a solution that was never implemented. The Arco Metropolitano, after ten years of waiting, had the tender for the southern axis, the first section of the works, announced for the first half of 2024.
Roads: Government says there are 734 kilometers under construction
With solutions such as mobile monitoring of pavement conservation and full coffers, the Government of Pernambuco says that this reality has changed for the better. In 2023, the state administration invested R$600 million in roads, as a result of raising funds in credit operations authorized by Alepe. There are 32 works in progress, which includes state highways such as PE-15, between Olinda and Abreu e Lima, and PE-17, in Jaboatão dos Guararapes, both in the Metropolitan Region of Recife, in addition to PE-45, between Escada and Vitória de Santo Antão, in Mata Sul, and PE-265, in Sertânia, in the Sertão.
Federal highways with sections delegated to state management are also on this list, such as BR-232, which has R$ 40 million in conservation alone and already shows improved pavement between Jaboatão dos Guararapes and Vitória de Santo Antão and also in Gravatá, in towards Recife-Caruaru. There are also works on BR-104, in Agreste. All interventions include 734 kilometers of highways, in addition to 370 kilometers that will receive restoration services in the coming months.
According to the State Government, the average PCI index – from the acronym Pavement Condition Index – of Pernambuco’s highways rose from 46 to 57 from 2023 to now, which indicates that the interventions carried out are already beginning to have an effect on traffic conditions. “We are committed to unlocking emblematic works. It is a challenge because there are nine thousand kilometers of paved highways in Pernambuco, 6.6 thousand of which are from DER alone, and we are seeking to work on those that meet the productive arrangements and that are fundamental for the movement of large populations”, highlighted the executive secretary of Monitoring, Planning and Management at Semobi, Roberto Salomão.
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