A rodovia e a região: a GO-164 e o processo de estruturação do Noroeste goiano

Abstract

Transportation networks are fundamental for the structuring of regions. In Goiás, these networks have a special relation with the process of urbanization, economic development, forms of production and consumption. Based on this, the present study analyzed the role of transportation networks, with an emphasis on the GO-164, in the process of structuring the northwest of Goiás and their influence on the uses and forms of control of this region. The methodology included bibliographical research, collection and analysis of secondary data, fieldwork focused on the seven municipalities directly served by the highway, mapping and synthesis of the services offered along the route. The results showed that the GO-164, since its opening, plays a central role in the regional structuring and territorial fluidity of northwestern Goiás. Its axis continues to influence the increase in urbanization in the municipalities and the expansion of production conditions, functioning as essential infrastructure for the productive spatial circuit of the main regional economic activity, beef cattle. It can also be seen that the appropriation of this network by corporate groups linked to this economic activity is a clear indication of this process, benefiting from the routes to articulate systems of control and power. In other words, the highway has been used both to promote integration and as a strategic artifact for exercising regional dominance. It can be concluded that the symbolism of the transition - from cattle drives to modern livestock transport by truck - remains symptomatic, now shaped by technique and a selective fluidity that connects corporate groups to the main state centralities and to the important nodes of the meat trade network on a global scale.