Rio's legacy: a highway where Games buses and local anger collide

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

FULL COVERAGE OF THE RIO OLYMPICS | Sat Aug 13, 2016 11:04am EDT

Rio's legacy: a highway where Games buses and local anger collide

By Brad Brooks | RIO DE JANEIRO

Ester Silva curses the Olympic Games as another bus rumbles over a new elevated highway that passes by her slum in Rio de Janeiro, sending a tremor through her brittle brick house.

"That road ripped our little community in two," said Silva, 61, who has run a snack shop for 16 years from her home, gesturing up at a stretch of highway where an official Games bus was hit with stones this week as it traveled between venues.

"My home is crumbling, all for an Olympics that is not being put on for us poor, yet we are the ones paying the highest price," she added, pointing out large patches of plaster that have fallen away from her ceiling and deep cracks in the walls.

The 26-km (16-mile), six-lane highway was completed just ahead of the Games and connects the main Olympic Park and a cluster of other Games venues. The government described it as a Games legacy for western Rio, promising to use it as a major bus route for the area's many poor communities.

But residents of the Vila Uniao favela hate it.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-rio-favela-dissent-idUSKCN10O0HZ

[heaven05]

1. all they are getting

or will get from that highway is dust. I knew people engaged in the Olympics would not be subjected to the reality of the huge slums around Rio. I am sure many would say wonderful to that, yet this post sums it up perfectly for me. How much did that fucking highway cost to build? How many could be fed with that money? How many could have received much needed medical care?