RIO DE JANEIRO - Rio de Janeiro was supposed to get a dazzling array of shiny new transport projects for the Olympics, but with weeks to go, there are big bumps in the road.
People board a newly inaugurated VLT (light rail vehicle) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 6, 2016
A long-awaited subway line will only be partly operational. A new tram broke down on its first day. A new coastal expressway developed potholes. And a new bike path collapsed into the ocean, killing two people.
Organizers are racing against the clock to get the city ready for the August 5 opening ceremony.
With the country mired in its worst recession in decades, they are also working on shoestring budgets to deliver on promises made in 2009, when a then-booming Brazil was named to host the Games.
And therein lie the problems, experts say.
"Today, projects are being put out to tender at a bare minimum, and not as the projects that really ought to be done," said Maria Cascao, a civil engineering professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
"That creates the need to carry out additional projects, which means delays and cost overruns."
Those practices are the target of much suspicion in a country that has been rocked by a massive scandal centered on state oil company Petrobras.
Many of the construction firms working on the Olympics infrastructure projects are caught up in the multi-billion-dollar scandal, along with a laundry list of powerful politicians.
"The projects around the Games are political in nature, and there is a lot of pressure to get them done on time," said Cascao.
"The delays lead to a rush, and that can lead to construction flaws."
On April 21, a large wave tore into part of a $12.6-million cycle path that had only opened three months before between the nerve center of the Games, in Barra da Tijuca, and the beach districts of Ipanema and Copacabana.
Users were sent tumbling over a sheer cliff into the Atlantic Ocean. Two died.
An inquiry found a fatal flaw in the construction plans: no one had carried out an oceanographic study, because no one thought the waves could reach the elevated path.
- Get out and walk -
Security fears also dog the new subway line.
After numerous delays, Line Four is now scheduled to open four days before the Games.
It will provide only partial service and be reserved for the "Olympic family."
Originally, testing was supposed to be carried out from October 2014 to September 2015, with a grand opening in February 2016.
Because of delays, that timeline has been compressed.
"This raises doubts about whether sufficient time has been reserved for all the necessary adjustments and tests," said the Rio state court of auditors last week.
The state government responded that all security protocols had been observed, including six months of testing.
"System tests began in January this year and equipment tests in June 2015, in accordance with the terms of the contract," said the state transportation secretariat.
The project has raised eyebrows.
"It's very optimistic," said Sergio Magalhaes, an urban planning professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
"Putting trains on the tracks in such a short time comes with risks."
A new light rail system connecting the Santos Dumont airport to downtown has also given organizers headaches.
The tram lost power on the first day of testing last week, forcing passengers to get out and walk.
The electrical problem was fixed a half-hour later.
- Stubborn potholes -
In another setback, the mayor's office announced last month that a new express bus system would serve only three stations during the Games, instead of 21.
The buses will not link the Olympic venues at Barra da Tijuca to the west with those at Deodoro to the north, which was originally supposed to be the end of the line.
Initially the entire project was supposed to be operational in 2015.
If there are holes in the construction schedule, there are more in the roads.
An elevated highway linking Barra da Tijuca to Ipanema developed potholes just days after it opened last month.
Workers filled them in, only for them to come back the next day.
They have now been covered with metal plates as a temporary fix.