After decades of dirt roads, SC-370 of Corvo Branco receives asphalt between Urubici and Grão-Pará, closing one of the wildest state roads in Brazil, with 180-degree curves, 90-meter vertical sandstone rock walls, and fog that obscures visibility at an altitude of 1,470 meters.

Written by Douglas Avila

Published on 23/05/2026 at 20:13

Updated on 23/05/2026 at 20:30

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The twelve-kilometer stretch that connects Urubici to Grão-Pará in the Serra Catarinense enters the final phase of paving after generations as a dirt road, with the asphalt paving concluding one of the most technical road landscapes in the country and the legendary “viração,” fog that erases the road in seconds.

The SC-370, a state highway that crosses the Serra do Corvo Branco in the south-central part of Santa Catarina, is close to being fully paved along the stretch between Urubici and Grão-Pará. The road, for decades made of dirt and gravel, takes drivers to an altitude of 1,470 meters between sandstone rock walls.

Aerial view of SC-370 winding between vertical walls of the Serra do Corvo Branco in Santa Catarina

The paving work progressed throughout 2024 and 2025 and entered the final stretch in 2026, according to regional outlets like Terra Brasil Notícias, NDmais, Viagens e Caminhos, and Carimbo de Viagem.

Twelve kilometers separate the mountain town of Urubici, a tourist starting point in the Serra Catarinense, from the small Grão-Pará, in the Capivaras River valley.

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The “viração” that erases visibility at 1,470 meters

The popular name for the phenomenon is viração. It is a dense fog that forms at the maximum altitude of the stretch, near the Altos do Corvo Branco viewpoint, and appears without warning.

In a matter of seconds, visibility drops to zero. Those inside the car see the hood disappear. Locals have learned to slow down and turn on the hazard lights at the first sign.

The phenomenon is concentrated between late autumn and winter, especially when a cold front advances over the plateau. The humidity gets trapped in the walls and condenses quickly.

Vertical sandstone rock walls ninety meters high cutting through the Serra do Corvo Branco in Santa Catarina

The region is also one of the coldest in Brazil. Urubici and neighboring municipalities like Bom Jardim da Serra and São Joaquim record frost in winter and rare confirmed snowfalls. Cold that connects with the recent polar wave that dropped Curitiba to 2.5 degrees and put eighteen states on alert, with a direct effect on the Serra Catarinense.

With the asphalt arriving, the SC-370 enters a new cycle. The dust from the dirt road disappears. Travel time decreases. Accessibility increases for tourists who previously avoided the stretch.

The other side of the equation is that the road loses part of its adventurous character. For drivers who traveled to tackle the mountain with 4×4, it was precisely the loose surface that added charm to the route.

I imagine what a road loses when asphalt arrives after decades. The topography remains. The driver’s relationship with the road changes. The risk becomes lower, and the landscape becomes a backdrop.

The Serra do Corvo Branco now joins the queue of other road works in Santa Catarina that are in the final phase. But the “viração” and the ninety-meter walls remain there, waiting for the next distracted driver.

In other parts of the country, highways with a similar profile face a different fate, such as the BR-040 in Itaipava, where the Sky-Scraper Bridge closed for six months for emergency structural works.

What was a dirt road between Urubici and Grão-Pará will become a paved tourist route, and the Serra Catarinense gains one more paved strip among its highest points. But the “viração” does not ask for permission to arrive.

Sources: Terra Brasil Notícias, NDmais, Viagens e Caminhos, Viagem & Turismo Abril, Climatempo.

Would you dare to climb the SC-370 of Corvo Branco after the asphalt, or do you prefer to face what’s left of the walls with the “viração” tightening visibility?

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After decades of dirt roads, SC-370 of Corvo Branco receives asphalt between Urubici and Grão-Pará, closing one of the wildest state roads in Brazil, with 180-degree curves, 90-meter vertical sandstone rock walls, and fog that obscures visibility at an altitude of 1,470 meters.

The “viração” that erases visibility at 1,470 meters

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After decades of dirt roads, SC-370 of Corvo Branco receives asphalt between Urubici and Grão-Pará, closing one of the wildest state roads in Brazil, with 180-degree curves, 90-meter vertical sandstone rock walls, and fog that obscures visibility at an altitude of 1,470 meters.

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Mother and daughter build a 70 m² house with more than 8,000 discarded glass bottles and impress with their creativity; known as the Casa de Sal, the property is located on Itamaracá Island, in Pernambuco.

Workers were opening a new road connection near the Marginal Tietê when they found, in the underground of the construction site, remnants of locomotives, wagons, and boilers from the 19th century linked to the forgotten history of Lapa.

Instead of burning or burying old tires, an American city is transforming about 2,000 of them into the street itself, paving its first sections with a quieter and more durable rubber asphalt.

China transforms desert-devastated area into the world’s largest artificial forest, planting trees for 60 years, blocking sand that reached Beijing, and creating a “green lung” of 92,000 hectares in a region once considered lost.

Greek island offers free housing for volunteers, but there’s a condition: you need to take care of rescued cats.

China has deployed snake-shaped robots to slide along power lines, where they have already inspected over 130 kilometers of cables using cameras and sensors to detect damaged wires, worn-out parts, and overheating.

Engineers want to carve through Africa with a giant canal to bring water from the world’s second-largest river to a dying lake on the edge of the Sahara Desert that has already lost 90% of its water.

Everyone complains, but everyone stops: Rede Graal charges R$ 20 for a coxinha, earns R$ 2 billion a year, and turned clean bathrooms, bus drivers, and hot bread into a billion-dollar machine on Brazil’s highways.

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