When to govern is to open roads: the historical construction process of rodoviarismo in São Paulo

Abstract

This article intends to understand, in general lines, the reasons that led the State of São Paulo to become an exception in the general framework of Brazilian rodoviarismo, based on the assumption that it anticipated the country and started its “road work” when it had a quite dense rail system, a consequence of the coffee expansion that had been occurring since the 1870s. From the pioneering activities in the propagation of the highway mentality to the penetration of its ideals into the public machinery in the first quarter of the 20th century, there was a continuous and even compulsive search for the expansion and modernization of its state road system until the mid 1980s, result as an intertwining of a series of political and economic variables that elevated São Paulo to the position of demonstration effect for the whole country.

Keywords:
rodoviarismo; modernization; State of São Paulo