Is Rio's Olympic 'transformation' for real?

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Rio's mayor touts a "transformation" of the 2016 Olympic city but when Rosa, a cleaning lady, makes the difficult journey back to her crime-ridden slum each evening, she's grateful just to have made it home.

At the heart of Rio de Janeiro's so-called legacy projects -- long-term improvements brought by the Olympics to a rundown city -- is transport.

New roads and cycle paths have been built along the Atlantic coastline, a system of express bus lanes has been created and, biggest of all, a 10-mile (16-kilometer) extension to the metro will link the far-flung west of the city.

Add in the other urban goodies -- new housing, schools, a revitalized city center, and the Museum of Tomorrow -- and it adds up, Mayor Eduardo Paes says, to "a renewed and more integrated city."

But if you're like Rosa, who did not want to give her last name, this shiny new Rio remains a world away.

In the Mare favela, where she has lived for 18 years, shootouts between drug dealers and police with automatic weapons are a near-daily reality, while getting to and from home requires negotiating tortuous bus routes.