Between January 1st and April 13th, just over 100 deaths occurred. During this period of time, Federal Highways (BA) in Bahia were the scene of 195 deaths from traffic accidents. The number corresponds to around 35% of that recorded in the entire year 2023. According to data from the Federal Highway Police (PRF), BR-101 and BR-116 are the roads with the most deaths, 48 on each of them. .
The main reasons are traffic on the wrong side of the road, speed incompatible with the road and undue overtaking. One of the last cases recorded in the survey was in Teixeira de Freitas, on BR-101, on April 11th. A tourist bus that left Rio de Janeiro and was on its way to Porto Seguro ended up overturning on the road. Nine people died and 23 were injured. The previous week, the driver of a truck died after colliding with another vehicle on BR-324, in a section close to the municipality of Santa Bárbara.
Speaking to Metro1, Fábio Rocha, from the PRF Communication Center (Nucom), cites the lack of duplication in some sections as one of the reasons that contributes to the number of accidents on BRs. “In general, BR-101, in the southern region of Bahia, is quite winding and also has a lot of vehicle traffic, as does BR-116. This characteristic of being a lane on a single-lane highway, without being doubled, and also because it has intense truck traffic, this ends up favoring the occurrence of accidents,” he says.
As it is directly connected to the capital of Bahia, BR-324 moves a high flow of vehicles, leading the number of general accidents, considered less serious. Of the 1,030 registered this year, 239 were on the road whose main section is the connection between Feira de Santana and Salvador. In addition to this, BR-101 had, in total, 239 accidents without victims.
Via Bahia
The duplication in some sections of the highways, mentioned by Rocha, is one of the old complaints from drivers and even deputies in the Legislative Assembly of Bahia (Alba). ViaBahia informed Metro1 that the 113.2 km stretch of BR-324 under its concession, from Salvador to Feira de Santana, is entirely duplicated. Of the 554.km stretch of BR-116 managed by the concessionaire, only around 70 km are duplicated – between Feira de Santana and the village of Paraguaçu, in the municipality of Rafael Jambeiro. The rest, which goes to the border between Bahia and Minas Gerais, follows a single track. This duplication has been planned since 2009, when the highway concession was transferred to ViaBahia.
The company, however, highlighted that the concession contract with the federal government will allow the acceleration of investment for the duplication of BR-116 in the section from Paraguaçu to the border with Minas Gerais, among other actions. At the end of last year, after many demands, at a meeting in the Chamber of Deputies, ViaBahia made a commitment to double the remaining 432 km, but by 2034, the year that coincides with the end of the concession contract. The plan is part of a negotiation with the Ministry of Transport, which also involved the National Land Transport Agency (ANTT), and foresees an investment of R$11.8 billion. The schedule establishes 100 km doubled in the first three years.
On April 13, 2024, a request was presented to the Federal Chamber to create a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI), to investigate irregularities in road concessions under the management of ViaBahia. A group of Bahian parliamentarians denounced the company for “neglect” with federal highways and want to hold a public hearing between the Infrastructure, Economic Development and Tourism Commission of the Legislative Assembly of Bahia (Alba) and the Consumer Protection and Labor Relations Commission and Agriculture and Rural Policy, at the Canadian Embassy, as the concessionaire is managed by Canadian capital.
Patching strategy
Engineer and master in transport planning in England, Elmo Felzemburg criticizes the maintenance model adopted by ViaBahia. For him, instead of operations to fill potholes, it is necessary to “reconstruct the road” so that it can safely handle traffic.
“What does the ViaBahia concession contract do today? Collect tolls and fill potholes. This is not a concession contract, it is not a serious thing. It would be serious to say that the BR-324, older than many other highways, deserved to be invested in to rebuild its lanes and make them all shoulders, to be well signposted, always intersections on viaducts at all points, no U-turns , and with access control […] There’s no point in tinkering, you need to create projects that really have higher standards”, says the engineer.
According to the PRF, actions are carried out to guide drivers and act to prevent accidents, mainly to try to avoid deaths on the roads. During festive seasons, when the flow of vehicles tends to be greater, corporation agents work at bus terminals, for example, to guide drivers and passengers. Metro1 information
