In the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Vila Uniao, which was built in the '80s, 876 residences will be destroyed to make room for a freeway that will run through the Rio 2016 Deodoro Olympic Park, according to David F. Sanchidrián of AS. The construction of the TransOlímpica, as it is known, "will be 23km long and will serve to connect the main competition areas at the Olympic cluster." The freeway will cost nearly €500M ($634M) "and will not only impact the lives of more than 800 families." It will also have a "major environmental impact because it will destroy 200,000 square meters of Atlantic shrub, an endangered form of vegetation in one of the biggest areas of environmental conservation in Brazil and the biggest urban park in the world, with 12,500 hectares of vegetation." The affected residents "will be relocated in apartments 2km away." Those that "will in the coming months see their homes destroyed are not satisfied with the 'compensation' from the government." A 62-year-old woman said to Rio newspaper UOL, "I have a house with three bedrooms, three baths, a kitchen, a living room and space for my business. The apartments they are offering are very small. I do not have to go to that area. I respect that they want us to leave, but I do not want to." A 52-year-old local said, "If I do not leave today I will have to leave tomorrow. The future does not want me to live here. I prefer to leave now and resolve this at once" (AS, 9/28).
