October 23, 2013

With the World Cup in Brazil just over seven months away, ITDP continues to advise on key infrastructure projects in Fortaleza, Brazil, preparing the city for the thousands of fans sure to flood the system next June, and establishing a strong transportation network for the city’s future.  Most recently, this past September 24th and 25th, Ulises Navarro and Victoria Broadus of ITDP Brazil visited the city to provide input on the design of five new BRT corridors.  Invited by Domingos Neto, Secretary of the World Cup in Fortaleza, ITDP met with city officials and shared best practices for BRT design. ITDP Brazil has been strengthening a partnership with Fortaleza’s municipal government since early 2013, based on funding from the British Prosperity Fund to work with the city.

Fortaleza has planned five new BRT corridors, expected to be phased in over the next several years. The World Cup line (BRT Copa) is currently 20% completed, although several subsections of the 18km corridor are expected to be completed by the end of 2013. Of the additional four planned BRT corridors, the 17.4km BRT1 between terminals Antônio Bezerra and Papicu is 65% complete, and is projected to be finished by December 2014. The three other corridors have yet to start construction.

Left: Construction on the 3km segment of the BRT Copa along Av. Alberto Craveiro is nearly complete. Credit: Fortaleza City Hall 

Right: Ulises and the Fortaleza BRT design team discuss improvements to the system. Credit: ITDP Brazil 

While in Fortaleza, Ulises met with secretaries and technicians from the Secretariat of Urbanism and the Environment (Seuma), the Secretariat of the World Cup (Secopa), the Secretariat of Infrastructure (Seinf), the city’s Urban Transport Company (Etufor), and the Municipal Transit Company (AMC), all of whom are participating in the design of the BRT corridors.  After analyzing a map of the planned corridors and discussing their implementation and financing, Ulises accompanied the group on a technical visit of all five corridors. Following the technical visit, José Roberto Resende, Executive Secretary of Infrastructure, gave a presentation on Fortaleza’s transport plans, and Ulises presented his initial impressions and suggestions for the city’s BRT lines, discussed best practices from other cities, and shared the BRT Standard.

Moving forward with BRT planning, Ulises recommended moving the moving bike lanes from the median to the right side of the road, and ensuring that the corridors have passing lanes and exclusive use of the center lane. Proper lane design is especially crucial for corridors where the demand is projected to surpass 10,000 passengers per hour per direction.

Ulises and Victoria also took advantage of the visit to meet with the Secretary of Urbanism and Environment, Agueda Muniz, to discuss the city’s progress with its Urban Mobility Plan and specific areas where ITDP could offer support. As Fortaleza plans for the World Cup and beyond, ensuring that transportation projects help create a dense, livable city is a priority, and ITDP is committed to working with local officials to make it happen.