Viaduto São Paulo, Road viaduct in Campinas, Brazil
Viaduto São Paulo, known as Laurão, is a road viaduct about 340 metres long on Avenida Doutor Moraes Sales in Campinas, with two lanes on each side. It crosses the valley of the córrego Proença above the junction of the Via Norte-Sul and Avenida Princesa D'Oeste, carrying roughly 48,000 vehicles on a weekday.
Built to ease traffic on Avenida Doutor Moraes Sales, the viaduct eliminated the need to cross the Norte-Sul and Princesa D'Oeste junctions; before it, drivers passed through a roundabout and later signalized crossings over the córrego Proença valley. It was completed on 25 January 1977, during the administration of mayor Lauro Péricles Gonçalves, after whom it is popularly called Laurão. In 2006 the area beneath it was reurbanized, with SANASA works covering the stream and creating a square.
Locals call it Laurão, after Lauro Péricles Gonçalves, the mayor whose administration built it. The space beneath the deck was redeveloped in 2006: SANASA covered the córrego Proença to curb flooding and a new square was created under the viaduct, which later received coloured LED lighting.
The viaduct carries Avenida Doutor Moraes Sales over the junction of Via Norte-Sul and Avenida Princesa D'Oeste, with two lanes on each side and no pedestrian use. Rua General Marcondes Salgado, the eastern extension of Via Expressa Waldemar Paschoal, runs past Bosque dos Jequitibás and ends at the viaduct. Around 48,000 vehicles cross it on an average weekday, so traffic is heaviest at rush hours.
The viaduct is nicknamed Laurão after Lauro Péricles Gonçalves, the mayor whose administration built it. In 2018, after an engineer reported its condition on social media, the city inspected the structure and found the cracks were only in the outer cladding.
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