Metropolitan Ring Road - Land Use and Flood Control in the Rio De Janeiro Metropolitan Area (PAP014920)

Código

PAP014920

Autores

PAULO ROBERTO FERREIRA CARNEIRO, Ana Lúcia Nogueira de Paiva Britto

Tema

Land use and Floods, landslides and erosion

Resumo

The Metropolitan Ring Road is one of the major works in progress in the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region. The new road will act as a bypass for the long-distance traffic between the South / Southeast and the North / Northeast regions, its arc connecting with five federal highways and intersecting a railroad, as well as serving several large industrial complexes being established in the metropolitan area. Moreover, the Metropolitan Ring will provide broader accessibility to the Port of Itaguai in Sepetiba Bay, such as for the Petrochemical Complex of Rio de Janeiro (COMPERJ), located in Itaboraí. Also it will permit the establishment of logistics terminals that will reduce travel times and transport costs, as well as improve connections to consumer markets. On the other hand, the construction of the ring road will introduce new vectors of urban expansion for the municipalities located in its area of influence, thus potentially changing the land use. The new road will cross the Baixada Fluminense, a lowland region notorious for flooding problems. Sustained urban development of this zone would have to provide flood control in the Iguaçu-Sarapuí river basin, which could only be achieved by controlling the urban sprawl and land use. Some areas of this zone are still free of urbanization, the vegetation cover and natural soil infiltration being responsible for retaining some of the rainfall runoff in the upper reaches of the Iguaçu-Sarapuí drainage basin. This paper aims to discuss strategies for the Baixada Fluminense to maintain its areas of low hydrological impact and keep the open spaces free of urbanization.