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Highway corridor between Bahia and Pernambuco enters a new phase with a 30-year concession, duplication works, side roads, and urban interventions in sections of BR-116 and BR-324, on a route linked to cargo transport, hinterland cities, and regional logistics.
The 116 Sertões Consortium won the Rota dos Sertões auction, held on May 28, 2026, at B3 in São Paulo, and will assume for 30 years the operation, maintenance, and modernization of 502 kilometers of BRs 116 and 324.
The granted section is between Salgueiro, in Pernambuco, and the ring road of Feira de Santana, in Bahia, an area that includes cargo circulation, regional displacements, and connections with municipalities in the northeastern semi-arid region.
The concession foresees R$ 8.5 billion over the contract, of which about R$ 4.1 billion will be allocated to infrastructure expansion and modernization works, according to information released by the National Land Transport Agency.
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In the competition, the winning group presented a discount of 19.60% on the basic toll rate, a criterion used in the auction to define the winning proposal within the federal concession model.
The package includes interventions in a corridor pointed out by the Ministry of Transport as relevant for regional supply, cargo transport, population mobility, and economic integration between Bahia and Pernambuco.
According to the route planned in the contract, the highway serves displacements between productive areas, consumer centers, urban centers, and national distribution routes, with traffic consisting of trucks, buses, light vehicles, and transport linked to the supply of inland cities.
Rota dos Sertões connects productive areas of the semi-arid region
The Rota dos Sertões covers approximately 429 kilometers of BR-116 in Bahia, 66 kilometers of BR-116 in Pernambuco, and 7.2 kilometers of BR-324 in the ring road of Feira de Santana.
This section passes through urban areas, agricultural regions, industrial hubs, and points of goods circulation, in a network that integrates municipalities of the Bahian and Pernambucan hinterland with other federal highway corridors.
BR-116 is one of the longest federal highways in the country and functions as a link between the Northeast and other Brazilian regions, playing a significant role in long-distance cargo and interstate travel.
In the granted section, the road receives traffic from trucks, buses, passenger vehicles, and transport linked to the supply of semi-arid municipalities, which requires continuous maintenance and road safety interventions.
With the expansion of productive activities in the interior of Bahia and Pernambuco, the pressure on the highway increased in areas where heavy traffic shares space with urban crossings, local access, and daily movements of residents.
In official materials, Feira de Santana appears as a point of great road concentration in the North and Northeast, as it connects routes such as BR-116, BR-324, and BR-101.
The Bahian municipality also gathers activities in commerce, services, industry, and transportation, which helps explain the presence of the BR-324 ring road within the lot granted to private initiative.
Works on BR-116 aim to reduce traffic bottlenecks
Among the main planned interventions are about 95 kilometers of lane duplication, approximately 45 kilometers of side roads in urban crossings, and the construction of a bypass in Serrinha, in the interior of Bahia.
The project also includes recovery, maintenance, and capacity expansion throughout the contract, with obligations to be executed according to stages and deadlines defined in the concession document.
In the case of Serrinha, the bypass was included because the municipality is at a point of urban and road circulation, where local traffic mixes with long-distance flow on the Bahian BR-116.
The separation between urban movements and vehicles crossing the region is one of the interventions planned to reorganize circulation in this section, according to the design presented for the concession.
In addition to expansion works, the concession includes operational services common to federal road contracts, such as user assistance, permanent maintenance, pavement conservation, and actions aimed at road safety.
The execution of the interventions will follow contractual schedules, and supervision will be the responsibility of the bodies responsible for monitoring the concession, including the National Land Transport Agency.
According to the Ministry of Transport, companies, drivers, and residents who depend on BR-116/324 report demand for improvements in paving, reduction of bottlenecks, and more predictability in movements.
The department also states that traffic jams, road wear, and accidents increase operational costs and affect cargo transport, especially in corridors used by trucks and buses on regional and interstate routes.
Concession involves logistics, industry, and agribusiness
The modernization of the Rota dos Sertões reaches economic activities that depend on frequent road movements, such as the transportation of food, industrial inputs, fuels, general cargo, and agricultural production.
BR-116 functions as a link between municipalities in the semi-arid region, distribution centers, and consumer markets, on a route used by different production chains in the interior of Bahia and Pernambuco.
In the vicinity of Feira de Santana, the presence of industries and logistics centers increases the use of the road network by companies that rely on the distribution of products and the receipt of supplies.
The Subaé Industrial Center houses companies from different sectors and uses the region’s road network to supply operations connected to Bahia and other states in the Northeast.
In municipalities in the Bahian hinterland, the highway also serves agricultural activities that depend on stable routes for regional circulation, especially in chains with production distributed across rural areas and nearby urban centers.
Euclides da Cunha, for example, is mentioned in materials from the Ministry of Transport as an area with production of beans, corn, cassava, beekeeping, and livestock, sectors that use the road network for the movement of goods and supplies.
Services related to transportation, such as workshops, fuel stations, lodging, restaurants, and support points for truck drivers, also integrate the economy installed along such road corridors.
This effect, however, depends on the execution of planned works, the local economic dynamics, and the ability of each municipality to organize service areas, urban accesses, and activities associated with vehicle circulation.
Toll will have a discount on the reference rate
The auction was won by the Consórcio 116 Sertões with a discount of 19.60% on the basic toll rate, a percentage that defined the best proposal presented in the competition.
This was the criterion adopted within the model conducted by ANTT, the Ministry of Transport, and structured by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development.
The toll collection is part of the concession model, in which the private sector assumes obligations of operation, maintenance, and investments for a determined period.
In return, the concessionaire starts to economically exploit the granted section, according to contractual rules, performance goals, tariff parameters, and public authority oversight.
BNDES informed that the project was structured to combine tariff levels considered moderate with interventions to increase safety and capacity on BR-116/324.
Before the auction, the notice provided for R$ 4.3 billion in capital investments, while disclosures after the competition indicated R$ 4.1 billion directly allocated to road infrastructure works.
The difference between the numbers appears associated with the way the project’s values are presented, which also includes estimated operational costs over the 30-year contract.
Infrastructure in the Northeast gains a new concession axis
The Rota dos Sertões is part of an ongoing agenda of federal highway concessions, with projects structured to transfer the operation and modernization of sections of the national network to the private sector.
The lot was structured within the partnership between BNDES, the Ministry of Transport, and ANTT, which has been bringing new projects to auction to increase investments in road infrastructure.
In the Northeast, road corridors remain relevant for production chains located inland, for circulation between medium-sized cities, and for connection with ports, industrial centers, and consumer markets.
In this context, BR-116/324 appears in official documents as a circulation axis between productive areas, medium-sized municipalities, and connection points with other national routes.
The effectiveness of the concession will be evaluated based on the fulfillment of the planned stages, contract supervision, and the delivery of scheduled works for the sections included in the lot.
For users, companies, and municipalities located along the route, the concrete effects will depend on the progress of duplications, side roads, the Serrinha bypass, and the safety improvements planned for BR-116/324.
The 30-year concession transfers to the private sector the responsibility to operate and modernize a corridor used in the transport of the northeastern semi-arid region and in the connection between Bahia and Pernambuco.
The economic reach of the works will be monitored by the delivery of contracted interventions, the evolution of road operation, and the performance of the granted infrastructure over the coming years.
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