Highway Of Dreams

A new road that connects the Pacific with the Atlantic could bring riches—and environmental ruin. Mary Luz Guerra remembers a trip she took in 2003 from the city of Cusco, high in the Peruvian Andes, to her home in Puerto Maldonado, a city in the Amazon rain forest. By plane, this 320-kilometer journey would have taken only 37 minutes, but Mary had traveled by truck along narrow mountain roads, across rushing rivers, and through dense jungle. It took her three days to reach home. During the long trip, she remembers thinking, "I can't wait till they build that highway!" Almost 10 years after that long journey, Mary's wish came true.

Bridging a Continent In early 2012, the Transoceanic Highway opened to public vehicles for the first time. A dream of Peru's political leaders since the 1950s, work on the vast network of roads and bridges began in 2006 and was completed in 2011. Today, the east–west passageway spans 2,600 kilometers. From Peru's Pacific Ocean coastline, it continues across the Andes Mountains and through a large part of Peru's Amazon rain forest. It then travels into Brazil, where it connects with a network of existing highways to the Atlantic.

The Transoceanic Highway has been celebrated as one of South America's greatest engineering feats, and supporters say it will greatly improve people's lives. Until recently, travel between the cities of Cusco and Puerto Maldonado in Peru took days by bus or truck—as Mary's story illustrates—and drivers had to use narrow, partially unpaved1 mountain roads. Now the trip only takes a few hours, and is much safer.

Improving People's Lives In addition to making travel faster and easier, supporters say the highway will be good for business. There is enormous demand in North America and Asia for Brazilian and Peruvian products, including soybeans, beef, and gold. A number of companies in Cusco and Puerto Maldonado also sell wood to different corners of the world. Many of these companies transport their lumber2 to the Pacific, where it travels by ship to other countries. Thanks to the highway, wood can now reach the Pacific in days; in the past, it could take a week or more. This lowers costs and allows the wood to reach customers sooner, and in better condition. In the long run, say many business owners, this will mean more profit.

The highway will also open up areas of the Peruvian Amazon that were not accessible just a few years ago. This may increase activity in these areas and give people new places to live in and travel to. This, in turn, could mean more jobs and money for Peruvians.

Environmental Challenges Despite the highway's many potential benefits, environmentalists are concerned. The Transoceanic passes directly through a large part of the Amazon rain forest, in the state of Madre de Dios in Peru. According to a Peruvian government study, the forested area in the western mountains of this state has the greatest biodiversity3 of any place on Earth, and until recently, large parts of the forest were in pristine4 condition. As more people move into the region, environmentalists worry about the impact this will have on the Amazon's plants and animals, many of which are found nowhere else.

Shortly after the highway opened, large numbers of people began coming into Puerto Maldonado from all over Peru—and the world—to mine gold. There's a lot of money to be made in mining, as well as in farming, says environmental photographer Gabby Salazar. "I think we're going to see a big increase in farming," she says. "Right across the border in Brazil, you see soybean farms all over the place." Studies show that 95 percent of the deforestation5 of the Brazilian Amazon occurs within 50 kilometers of a highway, and environmentalists like Salazar are concerned that the same thing is happening in Peru. "It's having an impact on the environment," she explains. "It's having an impact on the people as well."

Faced with these risks, many Peruvians talk about the importance of being practical. "In rural6 Peru, a lot of people are living in poverty, so it's very difficult to say don't build the highway," explains Roger Mustalish, president of the Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research. "But every time you see a road like this going through, you soon see major changes." Will these changes be mostly positive or negative? Many Peruvians are hopeful, but only time will tell.