> Imigrantes Highway Duplication
The Imigrantes Toll Road Duplication (Anchieta - Imigrantes Highway System) crossing the Serra do Mar State Park in São Paulo, a large area of natural forest that is protected by Brazilian environmental legislation, has become an international reference in environmental management. The project consists of a three lane, 21 kilometer expressway that crosses extremely sensitive areas, intercepting a forested mountain range and dropping over 2.500 feet.
JGP was responsible for preparation of the Integrated Environmental, Social, and Health and Safety Management Plan (ESMP) which resulted in emission of the Environmental Construction License. This plan was also approved by the Interamerican Development Bank as part of its due diligence procedure prior to subscription of a long-term loan agreement with the concessionaire.
Subsequently, JGP was responsible for environmental management and monitoring of the construction process. This involved the development, jointly with the concessionaire and the responsible construction firm, of innovative building methods such as to minimize risks of erosion and disruption of critical environments. As a result of this, forest clearing for implementation of the project was 40 times less than in the case of the existing highway that was built in the 1970’s. In effect, most of the alignment of the duplication is either in tunnel segment or in viaducts whose foundations seem to sprout out of the natural forest.
On the basis of the ESMP, the project’s concessionaire was the first toll-road concessionaire in the world to obtain ISO 14.001 certification (covering the entire Anchieta-Imigrantes Highway System with 192 kilometers). Several important environmental awards have also been obtained on the merit of successful implementation of the ESMP and completion of the duplication project.
| 
