The road tunnel was inaugurated by Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Rio de Janeiro’s mayor, Eduardo Paes, on March 6.
The tunnel is part of the first phase of the Campo Grande Ring Road, designed to reduce the 3km journey between Estrada da Caroba and Estrada da Posse to three minutes. The new connection also aims to improve traffic flow throughout the region so the average speed on surrounding roads should increase by about 20%.
The tunnel comprises two parallel tubes, each approximately 500m long, both with two lanes in each direction. During construction, which began with the first blast in August 2023, 225 tonnes of material were excavated.
The ring road’s first phase also includes a 400m-long underpass beneath Avenida Cesário de Melo, creating a direct link between Estrada do Monteiro and Viaduto Alim Pedro.
The tunnel is named after Moacyr Sreder Bastos, an educator and entrepreneur from Campo Grande. Together with his wife, Guiomar Barros Bastos, he created the Ginásio Modelo in 1935, a school that became a landmark in local education and evolved into the Moacyr Sreder Bastos University Center.
