Over 100,000 Vehicles Headed to São Paulo Coast at Start of Long Holiday Weekend
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – More than 100 thousand vehicles have passed through the highways of the Anchieta-Imigrantes System (SAI) bound for the São Paulo coast by early Saturday morning, September 5th. According to the Highway Police, over one million people are expected in Baixada Santista (metropolitan area of the city of Santos) during the extended Independence Day weekend (Monday is a national holiday).
According to Ecovias, the concessionaire that manages the stretch, approximately 102,600 vehicles traveled from São Paulo down the Serra do Mar between midnight on Friday and 8 AM on Saturday.
Drivers who decided to travel on Friday night faced a traffic jam of up to 27 kilometers on Imigrantes and 12 kilometers on Via Anchieta. Operation Descida (7×3) is in force, which should continue until 8 PM on Saturday. Two lanes of Anchieta and the South lane of Imigrantes have been reversed for the trip.
According to Captain Moacir Mathias, approximately 300,000 vehicles should travel through the Anchieta-Imigrantes System heading towards the São Paulo coast during the long Independence Day holiday. To avoid crowding the beaches, at least 400 police officers were deployed to the region.
The number reported by Mathias is higher than last weekend, when over 202,000 vehicles drove towards the region, between Friday, August 28th and Sunday, August 30th. There were records of crowds on the beaches and lack of protective masks. “If we multiply four people per car, we had almost an additional one million people here in the cities of Baixada Santista,” he explains.
Hotel occupancy
To date, hotels in Baixada Santista have reached 85 percent occupancy, within the 60 percent limit allowed by municipal decrees. The situation is worrisome due to the risk of crowding, which may increase the spread of Covid-19 infection. The sector expects this figure to reach 97 percent.
The data are based on a survey conducted by the Syndicate of Hotels, Restaurants, Bars and Similar (SINHORES) of Baixada Santista and Vale do Ribeira. The occupancy survey for the weekend (September 5th and 6th) and September 7th holiday was conducted with 17 hotels, between Wednesday, September 2nd, and Thursday, September 3rd. These figures may still increase due to last minute reservations.
Source: G1
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