Note on Brazil Road Maintenance, Quality and Safety

Overview & Synopsis

This note evaluates the relationship between road maintenance contracting modalities, maintenance investment, road quality, and road safety across Brazil’s federal road network between 2013 and 2025. Using panel data that combines maintenance contract information, International Roughness Index (IRI) measurements, and road accident records, the study compares regular public contracts, performance-based CREMA contracts, and private concessions. The findings indicate that CREMA contracts are significantly more cost-effective than regular contracts for both rehabilitation and conservation activities, while concessions achieve the highest road quality outcomes. Increased maintenance investment is strongly associated with improved road conditions; however, improvements in pavement quality alone are not robustly linked to reductions in accidents, injuries, or fatalities. The note highlights the importance of combining maintenance investments with targeted road safety measures and underscores the value of performance-based contracting for efficient road asset management.