Which highway, begun in 1970, cuts across Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest from east to west?

The Trans-Amazonian Highway, or BR-230, cuts across Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest from east to west.

Brazil began the project in 1970 during the military government’s push to integrate and settle the interior. The planned route stretches from the Atlantic port area near Cabedelo in Paraíba to Benjamin Constant in Amazonas, close to the Peruvian border. Its Amazon section passes through places including Altamira and Humaitá.

The road became famous for its enormous scale and difficult conditions. Many sections were built through dense forest, and heavy seasonal rain turned unpaved stretches into mud. Maintenance has remained uneven, so the route is not a continuous modern paved highway across the entire basin.

The Trans-Amazonian Highway also had major environmental and social consequences. Settlement schemes, logging, ranching and road construction accelerated forest clearing and brought intense conflict over Indigenous lands and land rights.