BR-376 (Brazil highway)

The Rodovia do Café route (Coffee Highway) was initially considered by the imperial government of Brazil. A report of the expedition led by the German engineers, José and Francisco Keller, addressed to the Imperial Government, in which they demonstrated for the opening of this highway, with interest even for a transcontinental highway, pointed out the shortest path between the coast of Brazil and Mato Grosso through the territory of Paraná. It was the first draft of the future highway. Several subsequent studies were carried out to find the best route through the rivers Ivaí, Tibaji and adjacent sertões. In 1871, in Curitiba, the cornerstone of the bridge was laid over the Ivo River, when the construction of the Estrada de Mato Grosso began, which was extended to the northwest of the Estrada da Graciosa. This road extended through Campo Largo, Palmeira and Ponta Grossa. Starting in 1928, with the first Paraná Highway Plan, guidelines were drawn up to comply with the connection with the northern region of the State. Until 1939, there was no road connecting the north of Paraná with the port of Paranaguá; With the exception of the railroad, only freighters and wagons carried out transport in the intermediate regions. The north and south connection of the State was made by the old Estrada do Cerne, a road full of curves, narrow and without pavement. Construction of a new highway began in 1944. With the creation of the DER in 1946, construction continued, the work of which at an early stage was opened to traffic in 1951. The work that made a great impact in Paraná in the 1960s was the Rodovia do Café. When the global guideline for Rodovia do Café was defined, with the most appropriate route for the flow of crops to the Port of Paranaguá, several solutions were suggested. At the beginning of that decade, its basic implementation was only 154 km long. The main objective of the period was to pave the Ponta Grossa-Apucarana section. This highway would be the main outlet for coffee crops, promoting the circulation of wealth and acting as an instrument of internal economic, social and political integration. Also called Rodovia da Integração, it provided, at the end of its construction, the flow of more than 4 million tons of agricultural production, mainly coffee and cereals. With the official delivery to traffic, in July 1965, Rodovia do Café made possible a considerable reduction in travel time, since a loaded truck, on average, took 18 hours to travel in the previous 38 hours, shortened by 142 km the section from Maringá to the port of Paranaguá, thus contributing to a greater movement of the port of Paraná, to the detriment of that of Santos. == Economic importance ==