Construction of Metro Line 4 has been authorized.
The State Commission's unanimous decision grants preliminary environmental license for works on the southern section; Rio Barra S/A begins construction this semester; the new line will connect the southern zone to Barra da Tijuca; 300 people will be transported daily.
247 - The preliminary environmental license for the works on Metro Line 4 in Rio de Janeiro was granted, unanimously, by the State Environmental Control Commission (Ceca), on the afternoon of this Friday (13). The interventions in the South section, which connects Ipanema to Gávea, will begin in the first half of 2012.
In a public session at the State Environmental Institute (Inea) this afternoon, the 12 members of the Ceca council approved the license after evaluating the Environmental Impact Study and the two Public Hearings held by Rio Barra S/A. From now on, the concessionaire will have to present the Basic Environmental Plan to Inea and comply with the other conditions established in the preliminary license. The new line project connects the southern zone of the city to Barra da Tijuca, in two sections - south and west.
In the southern region, four new stations and an underground tunnel will be built from Gávea to Praça General Osório. Expected for 13 years, Metro Line 4 will transport more than 300 people per day and remove approximately 2 vehicles per peak hour from the streets. In its report, Ceca also requests that the Gávea station be built on two levels, allowing for a future connection with the Botafogo station via a route that will pass through Jardim Botânico and Humaitá.
The construction work to extend the subway from the South Zone to Barra da Tijuca will disrupt traffic and, starting next year and for an indefinite period, will close public access to Antero de Quental Square (Leblon) and Nossa Senhora da Paz Square (Ipanema); and to Jardim de Alah, where the new stations will be built. The approved route has already been modified by the State Government. As an alternative to a station in Santos Dumont Square, in Gávea, the state decided to carry out the work in the parking lot of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio (PUC-Rio), which will also have its access closed to the public during the construction.
With the new line, passengers will be able to use the entire city's subway system with a single fare. Construction, which began in June 2010 in Barra da Tijuca, in the western zone, is scheduled for completion in December 2015. The two sections, west and south, will include six new stations and a total length of 16 kilometers. The route was designed to serve the largest number of passengers and integrate more areas of the city.
Once construction is complete, with the installation and operating licenses for the southern section approved, excavations will begin simultaneously for the four new stations in the South Zone: Nossa Senhora da Paz, Jardim de Alah, Antero de Quental, and Gávea. All need to be excavated at the same time to allow for the passage of the tunnel boring machine ("Tatuzão"), equipment that will drill the underground tunnels in the South Zone without the need to open trenches on the surface or along the streets. A tunnel boring machine of this size will be used for the first time in a construction project in Latin America, operating approximately 12 meters below ground, silently, and without impacting the population.