Environment

Most human endeavors, particularly those related to the implementation and/or restoration of road works, greatly impact the environment where they take place. Even when the main purpose of those works is to improve the lives of people by offering better and safer highways, railways and/or urban roads there will still be a measure of negative consequences ensuing from their implementation on the physical environment, wildlife, plant cover and to the human being.

For this reason, it is necessary to carry out surveys for any road work at an early stage, even before they begin, in conjunction with an accurate study of the characteristics of the environment where they will be executed in order to assess the consequences entailed. Those consequences must then be measured to verify the actual advantages derived from the work and if they exceed environmental losses.

It should yet be taken into account, especially in case of restoration projects, if there are non-treated environmental liabilities resulting from the implementation and other maintenance actions performed on the existing road.

ENGEFOTO has always considered the environmental aspect in all projects by including the environmental survey as part of the degraded area recovery plan (DARP) and under the environmental project.

The focus of the environmental survey is to identify environmental characteristics, specially its fragile aspects, to register in details liabilities that might exist and to assess the impacts the forecast work could cause.

The DARP breaks-down the required work and actions to correct existing degradation problems.

The environmental project addresses work execution or mitigating and compensating environmental measures required, given the potential damages imposed by the new endeavor.

As well as including an environmental component to all projects and works, ENGEFOTO has developed a range of services where the environmental variable plays a very important role. To mention but a few:

• Cadaster of existing liabilities, recovery projects and monitoring of ongoing works developed in conjunction with the monitoring of existing lane restoration work for highways BR-116, section at the São Paulo/Paraná Border– Curitiba, and highway BR-376 at the section between Curitiba and the Paraná/Santa Catarina Border, commissioned by the National Road Department.
• Surveying, cadastering, analysis, prioritization and assessment of occurrences caused by adverse climatic conditions and/or road construction, restoration/maintenance failures that can lead to environmental damages or degradation that hinder roads an/or users – sections of federal and state highways under plot 5 under the “Concession Program for Roads of the State of Paraná”, total extension 634.1 km, commissioned by Rodonorte.
• Environmental diagnostics for main roads, urban and highway sections to plot 5 under the “Road Concession Program of the State of Paraná”, totaling 487.5 km, commissioned by Rodonorte .
• Consultancy services to design the geoenvironmental map for the city of Aracaju in the State of Sergipe, commissioned by the Aracaju City Hall.
• Geoenvironmental mapping and recovery pan for degraded areas in 68 favela nuclei throughout the municipality of Campinas in the State of São Paulo, commissioned by Cohab-Campinas.
• Environmental monitoring of urban transport improvement works of Curitiba/Paraná – bi-articulate buses Capão da Imbuia / Vila Hauer and Mário Tourinho / Heitor Guimarães, commissioned by SMOP.