Duplication of the Tamoios Highway–São Paulo: smooth traffic flow and repercussions on the regional area of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraiba and North Coast

Abstract The Vale do Paraíba region has one of the most extensive and complex urban networks of the state of São Paulo. Its current configuration results from historical processes related to economic activities that promoted a greater articulation between the region and other localities in Brazil. In the last decade, the expansion of the Tamoios Highway and improvements in the Port of São Sebastião, located on the north coast of the state of São Paulo, have given a new dynamic to both inter-regional and intra-regional economic interactions. This article, which derives from an ongoing study, aims to build a synthesis of the processes of occupation and implementation of a transportation infrastructure, correlating them with the urban-regional economic development of the present Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraiba and North Coast.