'We will appeal', says DF governor about court decision that reduces speed on the Eixão

Celina Leão (PP), said that the government of the Federal District will appeal the court's decision to reduce the maximum speed of the Eixão from 80 km/h to 60 km/h.

“We are going to appeal because we have technical studies that prove the need to maintain the current speed”, said Celina Leão in material released by the government, this Thursday (12).

Released on Wednesday (11), the decision is signed by judge Carlos Frederico Maroja de Medeiros, from the Environmental Court of the Federal District Court of Justice, and responds to an action filed by the Public Ministry. There is an appeal.

According to the order, the DF will have to:

reduce the maximum speed from 80 km/h to 60 km/h on the entire road, including the North Triage Interchange, within 60 days;

give wide publicity to the new speed limit, including changing signage;

prepare a new security project for Eixão, including the installation of traffic lights, within 180 days;

create a cleaning, maintenance and safety plan for underground passages – to be drawn up in 60 days and implemented in the following 60 days.

The Brasília Highway Axis, or Eixão, is one of the main roads that cross the federal capital.

The avenue crosses Asa Norte and Asa Sul, and is the main access route to Lago Norte, Granja do Torto and Brasília International Airport, for example.

In this Wednesday's order (11), judge Carlos Maroja states that the Eixão is an "extremely dangerous and lethal route".

It also says that the underground walkways for pedestrian crossings are "poorly maintained, dangerous, unhealthy, with steep stairs and entirely inaccessible to people with reduced mobility, such as people with disabilities and the elderly".

Maroja also cites a Civil Police report that counted 20 deaths and 244 people injured in accidents in Eixão between 2022 and 2025.

In the same period, there were 233 incidents on pedestrian walkways, including robberies, homicides and rape.

"It should be noted: almost all deaths in Eixão are entirely predictable, probable occurrences and could be avoided with the relatively simple and cheap measures proposed by the [Public Ministry]", says the magistrate.

The decision also cites a study by professor at the University of Brasília (UnB) Paulo Cesar Marques da Silva, who calculated the impact of a possible reduction in the Eixão's maximum speed.

According to the study, reducing the maximum speed to 60 km/h:

it would reduce the danger, by giving drivers greater control of the vehicles and reducing the force of the impact in possible accidents;

it would increase, by around five minutes, the time taken to cross the Eixão from one end to the other;

it would allow more cars to occupy the Aixão at the same time, by reducing the safety distance (gap) between one vehicle and another;

it would make it safer to use bicycles on the road, which is currently hampered by high speeds.