The Rodovia dos Tamoios (official designation SP-099) is a

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

in the

Brazilian state The federative units of Brazil () are subnational entities with a certain degree of autonomy (self-government, self-regulation, and self-collection) and endowed with their own government and constitution, which together form the Federative Repu ...

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. The Rodovia dos Tamoios is a dual carriageway running from the city of

São José dos Campos São José dos Campos (, meaning Saint Joseph of the Fields) is a major city and the seat of the Municipalities of Brazil, municipality of the same name in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Brazil. One of the leading industrial and res ...

, located in the Paraíba River valley in the upper

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

of São Paulo down the

Serra do Mar The Serra do Mar (; ) is a system of mountain ranges and escarpments in Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeastern Brazil. Geography The Serra do Mar runs parallel to the Atlantic Ocean coast from the state of Espírito Santo to southern Santa Ca ...

to the coastal lowlands of the city of

Caraguatatuba Caraguatatuba, widely known by its abbreviation ''Caraguá'', is a city in the eastern part of the southern state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 123,389 (2020 ...

, connecting to the Rodovia Rio-Santos (federal highway). As such, it is part of a series of Serra do Mar highways which include

Rodovia Anchieta The Rodovia Anchieta (Anchieta Highway, official designation SP-150) is a highway connection between São Paulo and the Atlantic coast, the cities of Cubatão and Santos, in Brazil. In the plateau, the highway serves several cities of Greater S ...

(SP-150) and Rodovia dos Imigrantes (SP-160), departing from

, the

Mogi das Cruzes Mogi das Cruzes ( or ) is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, located within the metropolitan region of the state capital of the city of São Paulo. The population is 451,505 (2022 census) in an area of 713 km2. It is located 4 ...

Bertioga Bertioga is a Brazilian municipality in the state of São Paulo and part of the Baixada Santista Metropolitan Region. Its population is 64,723 (2020 est.) in an area of 490.15 km2. Because it neighbors resort towns, its population fluctuates ...

highway, and the

Taubaté Taubaté is a medium-sized city in the state of São Paulo, in southeastern Brazil. History Taubaté was part of the ancient Tupinambá Territory, along the Paraíba do Sul River. The Tupinambá Territory in the 16th century, stretched from ...

Ubatuba Ubatuba is a Brazilian municipality, located on the northeast coast, in the state of São Paulo. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 92,819 (2021 est.) in an area of 723.88 km2, of wh ...

highway. The SP-099 starts at the

Rodovia Presidente Dutra The Rodovia Presidente Dutra, (BR-116 – or SP-060 in the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo), colloquially known as Via Dutra is a federal highway which runs through the eastern part of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo and ...

, and crosses with

Rodovia Carvalho Pinto The Rodovia Governador Carvalho Pinto (officially designated SP-070) is a highway in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Brazil. It is a continuation of the Rodovia Ayrton Senna (also SP-070), near the city of Guararema and ends by mer ...

(SP-070), two huge thoroughfares which direct the road flow from and to São Paulo megalopolis to the Northern coast beach resorts. The road is thus named in order to remember the

Tamoio The Tupi people, a subdivision of the Tupi-Guarani linguistic families, were one of the largest groups of indigenous peoples in Brazil before its colonization. Scholars believe that while they first settled in the Amazon rainforest, from abo ...

, the ethnic group of original Indian tribes who inhabited the coast from Santos to

Espírito Santo Espírito Santo (; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attracti ...

at the time of discovery, in 1500. It was managed and maintained by the Department of Roads of the State of São Paulo (DER) until April 18, 2015. Now it's maintained by Ecopistas and Concessionária Tamoios. Toll was not required until 2016. The section crossing the

was a single-lane road until 2022, turning into a dual lane with the inauguration of a new 22-kilometre-long road for drivers heading uphill on the

towards São José dos Campos in 26 March 2022. The project, which took seven years to complete, required the excavation of 1.7 million cubic meters of rock and the construction of six viaducts and four tunnels in an investment of over 3 billion

reais The Brazilian real ( pl. '; sign: R$; code: BRL) is the official currency of Brazil. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. The Central Bank of Brazil is the central bank and the issuing authority. The real replaced the cruzeiro real in 1994. ...

. One of the tunnels, with a length of 5,555 meters, is the longest road tunnel in Brazil.

References

Highways in São Paulo (state)

Sao Jose dos Campos SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of ...

{{Brazil-road-stub

See also

References