Constructionshows
- Only trade show in Latin America for road and highway infrastructure professionals welcomed important national and international brands.
- The Brazil Road Summit round of lectures made an in-depth analysis of themes that will bring greater support to infrastructure works in Brazil
The second edition of Brazil Road Expo showed South America’s infrastructure market all of the most innovative technologies that can raise the quality of Brazilian highways and roads to the level of the best in the world. According to Guilherme Ramos, executive director of Quartier Feiras, the event organizer, the balance is positive, especially due to the quality of the public present at this edition. Over the three day event, 8234 professionals visited the exhibition and participated in the Brazil Road Summit seminars – events conference program and Coninfra – Brazilian Congress on Transportation Infrastructure held parallel to BRE 2012.
“We talked with the exhibiters and confirmed the high technical level of the professionals who visited the event,” he says. Highway concessionaires, suppliers, government entities, universities, City Halls from around the country and class associations tied to the sector were present. According to studies made by the fair’s organization, the expectation is for the business volume from contacts made during the event to be large.
The event’s opening ceremony was one of the highlights. It had the participation of authorities such as Rubens Cahin, Director of Planning at DER-SP (São Paulo State Road Department); João Virgílio Merighi, president of ANDIT – National Association of Transportation Infrastructure; Marcelo Perrupato, Secretary of National Transportation Policy of the Ministry of Transportation; Army General Jorge Fraxe, director of the DNIT – National Department of Transportation Infrastructure; Aldair Colombo, general director of Quartier Feiras; Army General Joaquim Maia Brandão Júnior, of the DEC – Department of Engineering and Construction of the Brazilian Army; Guilherme Ramos, executive director of Quartier Feiras; José Alberto Pereira Ribeiro, president of ANEOR – National Association of Road Works; and Moacyr S. Duarte, president of ABCR – Brazilian Association of Highway Concessionaires (photo).
The expo gathered brands that work in the road signaling, machine and equipment, safety, software, paving technology, slope stabilization, highway drainage segments, as well as products created with the most diverse objectives, including the best cost-benefit in performing small, medium and large works, as well as the quality and durability of highways and, most especially, the safety of their users.
Among the prominent exhibiters were centenary companies like Maccaferri, in geosynthetics, Ulma Construcción, Terex, Aximum, European leader in road safety and Indian companies like Zydex. Several pavement brands such as Único Pavimentos and Asfaltec demonstrated quick and easy-to-use solutions to City Halls from around the country.
Through its Department of Engineering and Construction, the Brazilian Army demonstrated several works and solutions it has been conducting around the country in highway construction and in the development of solutions, such as the integration of the São Francisco River Basins, for example. One of the main cases presented was the BR 101 highway in the Northeast, where nearly 160 kilometers were paved in concrete. The works vary in size, such as the construction of the main highway arteries that involve work by several professionals such as environmental engineers, geologists, topographers and geotechnicians, among others. According to Engineering Army Colonel Odilon Mazzini Júnior, “the department currently has 56 large projects in their execution phase around the country,” all accompanied by environmental management.
According to account manager Neliton Gonçalves, of Lindsay, a company that operates in the reversible lanes area, “the highlights of the event were the solutions that save lives on the road and the presence of world authorities in “highway safety” brought with great prominence by International Road Federation (IRF).” He believes the actual presence of the entity contributed greatly towards the development of company products.
The marketing manager at Kraton, which works in the petrochemicals area, engineer Hernando Macedo de Faria, “the event was important not only for participating companies, but also for Brazil, which has a highway grid that supports the transportation of all the country’s wealth.”
CONFERENCE PROGRAM – Besides gathering more than 200 world-renowned and traditional companies in their activities, the event promoted the seminar, workshop and training program – Brazil Road Summit.
At this edition, the members had the chance to participate in certified training by the International Road Federation – IRF, which brought engineer Robert Rausch to the course on Intelligent Transportation Systems – ITS, and Michael Dreznes, executive vice-president of IRF, who gave the course on Road Safety.
“It was an enriching experience to participate in this event and bring Brazilians new possibilities of work to ensure the lives of drivers who use the roads. Furthermore, interacting with training participants – who were interested and curious about our work in the USA, was also gratifying. I certainly intend to come back for the next edition,” concluded Dreznes, who is also president of TRB – Transportation Research Bureau in the United States.
The engineer Renato Penha Foreque, of RDJ Engenharia, from Espírito Santo, was one of the participants at Brazil Road Summit. “The lectures were very informative. The professionals presented market tendencies and options that can be quickly implemented. The connection between reality and future technologies adds knowledge to my current work,” he said.
CONINFRA – The Congress on Transportation Infrastructure was held parallel to the Brazil Road Summit for the first time, and its 6th edition pleased the authorities who organized the seminars. “This interaction between speakers and exhibiters is important because it enriches the themes in question with onsite examples of technology. The level of the speakers brought important contributions for holding future works,” concluded João Virgílio Merighi, president of ANDIT – National Association of Transportation Infrastructure, which organizes the congress together with ANEOR.
