since then one of the bases for military operations troops of the Brazilian Armed Forces. In 1970 it launched the "Programa de Integração Nacional" (National Integration Program), which, among other things, provided for the construction of the Trans-Amazon Highway, whose first section opened in 1971, along with the creation of a post of the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform in Marabá. With the completion of construction of the Trans-Amazon Highway, the flow of immigrants towards Maraba became very large, and in less than a decade the city has been radically transformed, from a small urban center on the banks of the Tocantins River (in Maraba time had only 20,000 inhabitants), a main city in the region with over 100,000 inhabitants. The 1980s In 1980 the city was devastated by the biggest flood in its history, when the Tocantins River rose 17.42 meters. As a result, there was a redesign of the city's expansion, with the construction of urban areas planned of the "Cidade Nova" (New City) and "Nova Marabá" (New Marabá), to the detriment of traditional urban area of the "Velha Marabá" (Old Marabá). New urban areas have also emerged over the decade, highlighting the "São Félix" (St. Félix) and the "Morada Nova" (New Morada). In 1984, comes into operation the Carajás Railway, which has Marabá as center of operations; in 1988 and come into operation the first two steel mills for the production of pig iron. In 1987 there was a conflict that became known as the Massacre of St. Boniface. The battle took place between the miners of Serra Pelada and the battalion of the "Polícia Militar" (Military Police of the state of Pará), with the support of the Brazilian Army. The event that preceded the massacre was blocking access to the Mixed Bridge of Marabá, in demonstration of the reopening of Serra Pelada mine and the lowering of the mining pit. A Police battalion was sent to unlock the bridge, but on reaching the spot shot with firearms against protesters to force their withdrawal. Officially nine people died in the conflict. The municipality contains part of the Tapirapé Biological Reserve, a strictly protected conservation unit created in 1989. Recent facts In 2008, the industrial park of Marabá reaches its peak with the onset of steel production, declining in the same year due to the Great Recession that has hit the European, American and Chinese markets,