Lula Opens First Section of Nova Serra das Araras

Overview

• President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva inaugurated the first stage on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, a 4 km uphill section of the Nova Serra das Araras on the Rodovia Presidente Dutra.
• The delivered segment has four traffic lanes, eight viaducts, LED lighting, shoulders and 14 retaining structures and is scheduled to open to traffic on Thursday, June 25 after final signage is installed.
• The Nova Serra das Araras segment carries R$1.5 billion in direct investment and the wider CCR RioSP/Motiva concession benefits from R$10.7 billion in BNDES financing.
• Project managers report about 70–75% overall progress and say the redesign will remove multiple dangerous curves, add escape ramps, incident‑detection cameras and smart lighting and cut travel times by roughly 25% uphill and 50% downhill.
• Authorities expect about 13,000 vehicles a day on the new uphill lane, estimate some 5,000 jobs tied to the works, plan a next partial delivery for August and target full completion around March 1, 2027.