Announced by the RN Government as one of the priorities for 2024, the recovery plan for 700 km of roads will not be enough to recover all state highways classified as bad or very poor by the government itself. A report from the Department of Roads and Highways obtained by TRIBUNA DO NORTE shows that, of the 3,379 km of state road network, around 1,243 km are classified as bad or very poor, which corresponds to 37.11% of the total. Based on the numbers, the approximately R$427 million invested by Ggoverno with federal resources from the Fiscal Balance Program (PEF) are only enough to renovate 56.3% of highways in poor or very poor condition.
The internal monitoring report for Potiguares highways was produced by DER, this April, at the request of the State Comptroller General. In it, state highways are divided into seven districts, with sections classified in five ways: Excellent, Good, Regular, Bad and Poor. Adding up all the stretches considered by the DER technical team as bad and terrible, we arrive at 1,243 km in poor condition. The districts of Nova Cruz and Santana do Matos (which include roads in neighboring cities) are the most affected, with 49% and 62% of bad and very poor mileage. The report also points out that, of the 3,300 km of RN’s road network, 284.4 km are in excellent condition, 365 km in good condition and 1,489 km in regular condition. The Mossoró district is the one with the best conditions, with 205km in good or excellent condition and 615km.
The report does not detail what qualifies the road in a specific criterion. The National Transport Confederation (CNT), in turn, points out that bad or very poor roads present serious problems in their paving, such as holes, cracks, severe wear, as well as deficiencies in signage, precarious shoulders and lack of maintenance. These conditions impair the safety and fluidity of traffic, increasing the risk of accidents and negatively impacting the transport of people and goods.
“The reduction in the level of functional performance of highways is closely related to the state of degradation in the pavement, as well as poor signaling or due to layouts and design conditions that make traffic slower or dangerous. Both slow traffic and road insecurity caused by problems in the road infrastructure significantly increase operational costs, such as consumption of fuel, tires, shock absorbers, as well as increasing the number of accidents with material losses and loss of life. which represent important socioeconomic losses”, reports the professor of the Civil Engineering and Road Technician course, Alexandre Pereira.
The RN-233 is one of these highways that has part of the sections classified as bad and serves as a diversion from the currently closed section of the BR-304. The report points out that part of the highway is classified as excellent, with 42km, however, another 63km are classified as regular, bad or terrible, which has caused inconvenience for the residents of Apodi and the region, according to Mayor Alan Silveira (MDB) .
“We have the RN-233 that comes from Caraúbas, passes through Apodi and goes to the Soledade District and goes down to Ceará. For Caraúbas, it’s not bad, the Government filled the hole last year. The RN-233 that goes from the municipality towards Soledade, where Lajedo is located, is just a hole, practically impassable, with no maintenance and weeds taking over. This leads to losses, with the generation of jobs and income. It is in Chapada where the irrigated fruit growing companies are located and they all use this RN. And also the problem of transporting the palalelo, the lime, which leaves Soledade and tourism, as we have Lajedo with the museum and this is harmed”, he mentions.
Other roads that have been affected by the intensity of the flow due to the works on BR-304 are the RN-118 and RN-401, which connect a series of cities. In the case of the diversion, Macau is one of the municipalities that has been affected.
“This detour is making it even more difficult because the trucks that travel this route between RN, Paraíba and Ceará have changed their route and are entering via the oil road and exiting onto BR. This affects the flow of vehicles and the roads are not in good condition. This only makes the journey more difficult for residents and traders”, points out Macau’s Secretary of Tourism, Rodrigo Menezes.
Mesh
Regarding the fact that RN is unable to recover the entire state road network, professor Alexandre Pereira mentions that, in addition to the insufficiency of financial contributions to meet the need for investments in the maintenance or improvement of the state road network, there is a lack of recomposition in the technical staff of DER and Infrastructure Secretariat (SIN).
“How are projects contracted and how are they supervised, if there is a lack of employees to work in this area? It appears that in addition to the lack of priority in the allocation of financial resources to the infrastructure sector, there is a lack of institutional preparation to deal with these very important projects, under penalty of misuse of these scarce and valuable financial resources”, he concludes.
The TRIBUNA DO NORTE report sought contact with the Department of Roads and Highways (DER-RN) and the Secretariat of Infrastructure (SIN) to discuss the topic, but did not receive any response until the closing of this edition. In the case of SIN, the holder of the portfolio, Gustavo Coelho, is away for medical reasons.
The three notices for road recovery are already in the public square and were launched between the end of February and the beginning of March this year. One of the bids has already been finalized with the winner approved and the other two are in progress with the State Government. The 700 km will cost the Government around R$400 million, an investment resulting from the signing of the Fiscal Balance Program (PEF) agreement.
Diversion should be ready in 20 days
The difficult situation on Rio Grande do Norte’s highways became even worse with the closure of a section of BR-304, following the collapse of a bridge, caused by heavy rain. DNIT promised to build a diversion by April. The detour at km 203.5 of BR-304, however, should only be ready by the first half of May, according to the agency’s estimate.
The work is 50% completed and the culvert pipe that will guarantee the flow of the Bom Fim stream is currently being installed. Completion of services is subject to favorable weather conditions, as excessive rain makes it difficult to place paving material on site.
When completed, the diversion will be 500 meters long, 10.5 meters wide (including two shoulders of 1.5 meters each) on Hot Machined Bituminous Concrete (CBUQ) pavement. The CBUQ layer will be seven centimeters thick, guaranteeing users greater safety when traveling and even enabling the passage of heavy vehicles.
The Dnit also says that the temporary runway will be used in the future as part of the construction site for the construction of the new bridge. The crossing to be built will replace the structure that collapsed at the end of March as a result of heavy rains that hit the region.
The preliminary project for emergency hiring of a company that will build the new bridge is being analyzed by the municipality’s technical team. After approval of the preliminary project, the process of hiring a specialized company for the work will begin.
Numbers
1,243
kilometers. It is the sum of the bad and terrible sections in the RNs, according to the DER report
700
kilometers. This is the total to be recovered by the state government
