Nova Marginal do Tietê

The city’s main road corridor, with a flow of up to 1.2 million vehicles per day: that’s the Marginal Tietê (Tietê Marginal Highway), important traffic way that connects the west, north and east sides of São Paulo and serves as access to the Castello Branco, Anhanguera, Bandeirantes, Presidente Dutra, Fernão Dias, Ayrton Senna Highways and the Guarulhos International Airport.

The works for the adjustment of the Tietê Marginal Highway in the section between the CPTM (São Paulo Metropolitan Train Company) overpass (Bandeirantes Highway) and Rua Ulisses Cruz (after the Tatuapé bridge), with a total length of approximately 15.2 kilometers in each direction, were opened in March, 2010.

To minimize traffic problems, several measures were adopted yet during the planning stage of the works to enlarge the highway and implement special engineering structures.

Main complexities:

• Deadline for the delivery of the works to minimize the impacts to the population.
• Transport of materials in the evenings, when the traffic is less intense.
• Partial closure of the Freguesia do Ó, Limão, Casa Verde, Bandeiras, and Jânio Quadros (Vila Maria) bridges to minimize possible problems to those who cross the Tietê river. The following events taking place in the area were considered during the works: the Brazilian Formula 1 Grand Prix (a significant flow of vehicles in the surroundings of Campo de Marte), the March for Jesus, events in the Anhembi Exhibition Complex, and the exceptional flow of buses in the Terminal Rodoviário do Tietê (Tietê Road Terminal) during the holidays season and Carnival.
• The main construction sites were strategically located to provide support to the works without causing significant problems to the traffic flow.
• Special traffic detours were implemented with the direct and permanent participation of CET- Companhia de Engenharia de Tráfego (Traffic Engineering Company).
• The significant traffic flow in both directions.
• Interferences with public utilities: COMGÁS, CTEEP, ELETROPAULO, SABESP, DAEE.
• Confined space for the carrying out of the works, many times between the two lanes.
• Works conducted during the evening when the traffic flow is less intense.
• Meteorological conditions, with atypical rains in the period, with precipitation indexes above the historical average during the works.
• Tree transplanting in the evenings, most of the times with the support of large cranes and truckloads.

Details about the works

The following works were carried out in the Nova Tietê Marginal Highway:

• Widening of the local lane to increase the number from three to four lanes and implementation of an auxiliary lane in the local lanes in the sections below the bridges to help the traffic flow in the access loops to the bridges.
• Construction of bridges and overpasses with direct access to transverse crossing roads, improving the flow and the merge of vehicles, in addition to the stretching of existing bridges.
• Adjusting of the curves and restoration of accesses (changing lane sections) to ensure more safety and comfort for drivers.
• Adjusting of the bridges’ vertical levels to minimize problems with freight trucks.
• Adjusting of the superficial drainage system; complementary works in the road system; implementation of the electronic traffic monitoring system and of new signaling, in addition to the implementation of a urban landscape program.

Benefits

• Improvement of the performance of the entire road system.
• Reduction of traffic congestions.
• Reduction in travel times.
• Air quality improvement.