CNT: Brazil's highways improve in 2026 but critical defects surge 45%

The Confederação Nacional do Transporte (CNT) presented on Monday the Pesquisa CNT de Rodovias 2026, the annual survey on the condition of Brazil's road network. The study concluded that overall road conditions improved compared to the previous year, driven mainly by progress in signage, although at the same time a significant increase was recorded in the number of critical defects detected across the entire network surveyed.

According to the results, the proportion of sections rated as excellent or good rose from 37.9% to 41.1%, while sections considered poor or very poor fell from 19.1% to 16.4%. The fair rating accounted for 42.5% of the surveyed length. Sources differ slightly on the total length surveyed: Mundo Logística and Agência iNFRA mention about 114.9 thousand and 115 thousand kilometers respectively, while Jornal Portuario reports 111.5 thousand paved kilometers evaluated.

The main counterpoint to the overall improvement was the growth in critical defects, which rose from around 2.1 thousand in 2025 to 3,119 in 2026, an increase of 45.3%. Most of these were large potholes, with 2,603 recorded, in addition to 304 instances of pavement erosion and 97 slope failures. CNT did not establish a definitive cause for the increase, although it noted that the rainy season, which coincided with part of the data collection and extended the survey by two months, may have influenced the results.

The report calculated that inadequate pavement conditions raise carriers' operating costs by 31.8% compared to sections in optimal condition. Mundo Logística cited an estimated additional diesel expense of R$ 6.3 billion due to excess consumption of 1.02 billion liters, while Agência iNFRA put that cost overrun at R$ 6.2 billion. CNT also estimated the need for R$ 105.93 billion in investments for reconstruction, restoration and maintenance of the surveyed sections, a figure that Agência iNFRA broke down as R$ 70 billion for emergency interventions and R$ 35.9 billion for maintenance.

The Southeast region had the best performance, with 53.3% of its network rated as excellent or good, followed by the South with 42.2%, while the North recorded the worst scenario, with just 22.4%. Among the states, Acre presented the worst situation, with 78.3% of its roads in poor or very poor condition, compared to São Paulo, which had 77% of its network in the two best categories. The president of Sistema Transporte, Vander Costa, highlighted that the improvement demonstrates concrete results from investments, but stressed the need for continuity, while CNT's executive director, Fernanda Rezende, emphasized the importance of combining public and private investment.