It has brought economic development and population growth in the Amazon basin states of Rondônia and Acre.

It is also important for the flow of agricultural and livestock production in the states of Rondônia, Mato Grosso and Goiás, for Brazilian domestic consumption and for export, predominately by Port of Santos.

BR-364 starts in Limeira in São Paulo state and runs northwest through Minas Gerais, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Rondônia and Acre to Rodrigues Alves, then on to Mâncio Lima on the frontier with Peru.

It passes through the cities of Cuiabá (Mato Grosso), Porto Velho (Rondônia) and Rio Branco (Acre).

[2] The highway runs through the Cerrado, Pantanal and Amazon rainforest biomes, and through sugar cane, soy bean and cotton farming areas.

In the state of Mato Grosso, the Federal Government has been doubling BR 364 between the cities of Cuiabá and Rondonópolis, a stretch of 191 km.

At the end of 2018, the duplication of the section between the cities of Cuiabá and Jaciara, about 100 kilometers, was inaugurated.

The road would be used to transport cassiterite to industries in the east, and to open the west for settlement.

[citation needed] BR-364 and the BR-230 Trans-Amazonian Highway were intended to integrate, protect and bring people to the "undeveloped, unproductive and empty" Amazon.

[5] BR-364 was the first main road between the Amazon basin and the rest of Brazil, and was intended to provide an access route for developing infrastructure between Cuiabá and Porto Velho.

From Peru's Pacific Ocean coastline, it continues across the Andes mountains and through a large part of the Amazon rainforest in the Peruvian department of Madre de Dios.

Completed in 2011, it creates a connected highway from the Peruvian ports of San Juan de Marcona to Brazilian ports and cities throughout the City of Rio Branco ZPE (Special Export Zone).

In Peru the project is known by the MTC (Ministerio de Transportes y Comunicaciones) as the Corredor Vial Interoceánico Sur Perú-Brasil[7] and by ProInversion (Private Investment Promotion Agency - Peru) as the Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America, (Iniciativa para la Integración de la Infraestructura Regional Suramericana) (IIRSA), SUR axis.

Five concessions were constructed in two blocks: In June 2005, the second, third, and fourth sections were leased to specialized Peruvian and Brazilian consortia of private companies for 25 years, in which they will be responsible for looking after the highway, the built and forthcoming bridges, and tollbooths.

[15][16][17] In 2019, the state produced 805 thousand tons of corn, second largest production in the northern region, losing only to Tocantins.

In 2018, Mato Grosso was the fifth largest pork producer in the country, with a herd of around 2.5 million animals.

[25] In addition, in gemstones, the state is the 2nd largest national producer of diamond, having extracted 49 thousand carats in the year 2017.

The state of Goiás stands out in the production of sugarcane, corn, soy, sorghum, beans, sunflower, tomato, garlic, in addition to also producing cotton, rice, coffee and wheat.

[44][45] Goiás was the 4th largest producer of beans in Brazil in the 2017–18 harvest, with 374 thousand tons, and has about 10% of the country's production.

[47] Minerals are also important with the state being a major producer of nickel, copper, gold, niobium and aluminum (bauxite).

In niobium (in the form of pyrochlorine), it was the 2nd largest producer in the country, with 27 thousand tons, at a value of R$312 million.

The state also has known production of tourmaline (Brazil is one of the biggest productors of this gem), and sapphire (in a scarce mode).

Rio Verde, in the southwest, is one of the fastest growing small cities with many new industries locating in the area and Catalão is a metal-mechanical and chemical center.