RIO DE JANEIRO -- There are 2,496 days until the opening of the 2016 Olympics. Rio de Janeiro, the first South American Olympic host, will need every last one of them to complete an epic urban makeover.
For all of its natural beauty, Rio has been in a state of decline since the national capital was transferred from here to the newly created city of Brasília in 1960. As part of a $14 billion Olympic overhaul, Rio will have to add subway lines and a new bus system, attract investors to double the city's hotel space and clean up a polluted bay and lakes. It must build four arenas, overhaul two stadiums and construct facilities for sports like tennis and mountain biking. And, somehow, authorities must deal with drug-related violence in a city where statisticians routinely publish data on killings by stray bullets.
Rio residents are hoping that the international spotlight on the city cast by the Olympics will introduce some accountability into the local political system, which has been prone to inefficiency and corruption. Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes said the city this week will launch a Web site, Olympic Transparency, where all spending on the games will be posted.
But amid the euphoria over how the Olympics could give Brazil an international visibility it has always craved, there were voices of caution.
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