The incredible new £589m mega-project which will end traffic chaos in Brazil | World | News

A new highway is being built in a huge city in a bid to help reduce traffic chaos and improve road safety.

Florianópolis, located on Brazil’s east coast, is building a $772million (£589million) highway.

The project is led by Brazilian highway firm Arteris, hoping to make it easier for those traveling between Florianópolis and Biguaçu to the northwest, as well as São José, and Palhoça to the south.

Four tunnel sections with dual tubes, seven sets of bridges, and 21 level crossings will be built as part of the project.

The work is being carried out by 2,000 workers.

Florianópolis is located on what is known as the ‘Magic Island’ and is the capital of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil.

With the current roads, it can take as long as two hours to reach Florianópolis from distances that should take 20 minutes.

Brazilians rely heavily on the highways that connect the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, and Santa Catarina.

The country is reliant on trucks to transport goods as the development of trains is behind that of other comparable countries.

Only 15 percent of freight is transported by rail in Brazil.

The project began in 2010 when President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was overseeing his first term as Brazilian President.

Known as ‘Lula’ in Brazil, he returned to power in 2022 after defeating right-wing Jair Bolsonaro.