The condition of Brazilian roads improved last year compared to 2023. The assessment is included in the CNT Rodovias survey, carried out by the National Transport Confederation, published this Wednesday (17).
The survey, now in its 30th year, assessed 114,197 km of paved highways in all regions of the country.
According to the study, the proportion of snippets rated as excellent or good increased and those rated as bad or terrible decreased.
Of the total, 38% of the assessed length (43,301 km) was judged to be in excellent or good condition, compared to 33% in 2024 (36,814 km).
The sections judged to be bad or very bad went from 26.6% (29,776 km) to 19.1% (21,804 km).
The regular category is experiencing a slight improvement, with 43% (49,092 km) this year, compared to 40.4% (45,263 km) in 2024.
Of the 10 highest-rated sections, 7 are highways that cross the state of São Paulo.
Of this total, only one has not been granted to private management, it is the SP-320, Euclides da Cunha highway, whose section, 185 km long, extends between Rubinéia and Mirassol, in the interior of São Paulo.
The route between Presidente Epitácio and Ourinhos (also in São Paulo) on the Raposo Tavares highway came in first place in the ranking, the same as last year.
A total of 12 highways were classified as poor. All are publicly managed and only one is in the Southeast. Six are in the northeast, three in the north and two in the south.
“The concessions made in 2025 were decisive in improving the quality of Brazilian highways,” says Vander Costa, president of the CNT transport system.
“They have invested in maintenance and modernization, increasing user safety and comfort,” he says.
The report highlights that in the face of infrastructural challenges, road concessions have become an important strategy to attract investment and reduce dependence on public resources.
According to the study, of the highways under public management, 64.4% have pavement problems, which leads, on average, to an increase in operating costs of up to 35.8%.
Of those granted, 34.4% have some type of irregularity in the road surface, leading to an average increase in carrier operating costs of up to 18.4% compared to asphalt considered optimal.
The Euclides da Cunha highway is not part of the concession program of the Tarcísio de Freitas government (Republican) and yet it comes in fifth place in the CNT ranking.
One of the reasons was to have received more than 260 million reais in investments in recent years to improve traffic conditions, strengthen the safety and comfort of users.
“The services included functional recovery of the surface, structural restoration of critical sections and reinforcement of horizontal and vertical signage,” specifies the DER (Department of Roads and Highways), an organization linked to the state government.
The document from the National Transport Confederation indicates that there is still a significant share of unpaved roads on the Brazilian road network.
“This structure faces challenges that compromise its ability to meet growing freight and passenger demand, despite its recognized importance to society and the economy,” the document says.
According to the investigation, several problems were observed, such as insufficient paving, poor network conditions, project shutdowns and poor signage.
“These deficiencies cause a series of adversities, such as operational losses, environmental impacts and, above all, compromised road safety,” he says.
The precarious conditions of the roads directly contribute to a high number of accidents or their worsening, says the text, pointing out that data from the Federal Highway Police show that in 2024, more than 73 thousand traffic accidents were recorded on federal roads, which is equivalent to an average of around eight accidents per hour in the country.
“Of this total, 6.7% were caused by problems related to infrastructure and road conditions,” the report said.
Further driver-caused accidents could have been avoided if there had been elements such as loudspeakers and crash mitigation devices on the highway, according to the document.
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