Expansão dos transportes interiores : alguns planos de viação, à luz da geografia

Resumo

Under the title "Expansion of Interior Transport", the engineer Moacir M. F. Silva makes a study of "some plans for means of transportation, in a geographical light". In "interior transport" he includes transport by railroad, highways, rivers and lakes. He keeps in mind that the sea, rivers and mountains are natural elements which condition surface transport, facilitating or modifying it according to the aspects that they present in each case.

            Following this, he refers to general plans of transport, mentioning as the oldest the "general network of navigable waterways" brought out in 1869 by General Eduardo José de Morais, in his book "Navegação no Interior do Brasil".

            He goes on to describe briefly, with comments, the ever land, or mixed (land and water) plans which have appeared one after the other from 1874 up to the present day. Chronologically: Plan of Ramos de Queirós (1874); Plan of André Rebouças (1874); Plan of Honório Bicalho (1881) · Plan of Oliveira Bulhões (1882); Transportation Plan of the First Republic (1890); Strategic Network of General Belarmino de Mendonça (1908); Definitive Constitution of the network of national railways, by José Luís Batista (1926); Means of Communication, by Pandiá Calógeras (1926); Policy of Brazilian Transport, present and future network of communication, by Paulo de Frontin (1929); Railroad Plan of Sousa Brandão (1932) and finally the General Plan for National Transport, approved by Decree n° 24 497. of .June 29th, 1934.

            Afterwards he treats of highway plans: Catrambi Plan (1926); Schnoor Plan (1927); Plan of the Commission of Federal Highways (1928); Plan of the National Highway Department (1937), arriving finally at the National Highway Plan, approved by Decree n° 15 093 of March 20th, 1944. He calls attention to the ares and chords of Brazilian transport, and to the spontaneous, plannable axes of the Highway Plan; the difference between the plans for means of transport and the plans for actual works stands out; it shows that in comparison with the great railroads of other countries and even with those of Brazil itself, the Transport Plan and the Highway Plan, far from being grandiose, are actually modest.

            He says that they both need to be revised, in order to take care of the Federal Territories, which were created later, and he concludes that "Brazil should have transportation plans of the same magnitude as her geography".