Coronavirus

Road traffic slowly getting back to normal in Brazil

Road traffic slowly getting back to normal in Brazil

Highway concessionaire CCR, which manages some of Brazil’s most important roads, reported a 27-percent drop in overall traffic between April 3 to 9, compared to 2019 levels. But traffic reductions had been higher between March 27 and April 2 — 31 percent.

CCR data shows that personal cars are the ones returning to roads. While their presence had dropped 58 percent in the week between March 21 and April 2, the decrease observed last week was only 51 percent. Among commercial vehicles, the reduction is significantly smaller — 9 and 7 percent, respectively — as highways are by far and away Brazil’s most popular mode of cargo transportation.

CCR manages the operations of roads that connect São Paulo to the cities of Sorocaba, Campinas, and Barueri, as well as the Nova Dutra expressway, linking São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The company also has operations in the south of Brazil, as well as the concession of Line 4 of São Paulo’s subway system and Confins Airport in Minas Gerais.