Salvador Pacetti and Paulo Virgínio road

The SP-171 is a State road in Brazil and is under the jurisdiction of the state of São Paulo, connecting the Paraíba Valley to the northern coast of São Paulo and the southern lowlands of Rio de Janeiro. It has two official names: Paulo Virgínio road (from km 0 to km 47) and Vice-mayor Salvador Pacetti road (from km 47 to km 70). In 70 kilometers of extension, the SP-171 connects the Via Dutra (BR-116), in Guaratinguetá (SP), to the center of the municipality of Cunha (SP) and the Via Rio-Santos (BR-101), in Paraty (RJ), through its Fluminense extension (stretching for another 21 kilometers) as RJ-165.

After the inauguration of the Comendador Antônio Cônti Park road (as RJ-165 is officially named), in 2017, it is completely integrated into the federal route of BR-459. Currently, its entire path is managed by the Department of State Roads (in Portuguese: "Departamento de Estradas de Rodagem" - DER) of São Paulo. The highway direction, that is, the kilometer count, runs from north to south and crosses the geographical locations of Paraitinga and Paraibuna rivers, positioned in the upper Paraíba River hydrographic basin; after passing through the Cunha locality of Taboão, the last kilometer (km 70) converts into km 21 of RJ-165 and the count becomes regressive until the Rio-Santos junction, concluding the connection route.

This state road offers access to important environmental preservation areas, such as the parks of the Serra do Mar and Serra da Bocaina. It also interlinks sites and places that compose the Brazilian cultural and historical heritage. Its layout is ancient and dates back to the period when the country belonged to the Kingdom of Portugal: it had become the southern fork of the Caminho dos Paulistas way (also called Caminho Geral do Sertão way) and was part of the Caminho do Ouro (also called the Old Way), one of the Royal Roads (Estradas Reais) of the Colony. Its path, opened in 1596 by Martim Correia de Sá, was part of the route of the first long-distance road in Brazil — established in 1697 by order of Peter of Lisbon (23rd King of Portugal), connecting Paraty to Ouro Preto in 710 kilometers, but, with rudimentary characteristics (as a well-structured trail), serving only the traffic of travelers on foot, on horseback or with animal-drawn carts —. The first Brazilian road built specifically for motor vehicles and properly paved since its construction was inaugurated in 1861 by Dom Pedro II, linking Petrópolis to Juiz de Fora in 144 kilometers. The first documented passage of a motor vehicle between the Paraíba Valley and Paraty occurred only in 1932 by Dr. Eduardo Pompéia Vasconcellos (the engineer responsible for the projects to modernize the route that gave the current itinerary characteristics of SP-171 and RJ-165).

Today, it is the main road of Cunha and is also the largest public way in the municipality: there are approximately fifty kilometers within the Cunhense territory from the border with Guaratinguetá (popularly known only as “Guará”) to the border with the state of Rio de Janeiro and it is assigned the following Brazilian Postal Code (CEP): 12530-000 — while in Guará, the assigned CEPs are n° 12503-021 (in the first kilometers of the road, when it passes through the Pedreira locality) and n° 12503-790 (near the municipal limit, when it passes through the Rocinha locality); and, in the other direction, after the border, it obtains the CEP n° 23970-000 —.