By 2032 will be carried out on bridge over the Strait of Messina. The Meloni governmenton the initiative of the Minister of Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility Matteo Salviniofficially restarted the project through the Strait of Messina Society, which had its liquidation status revoked. Shortly after his inauguration, the leader of the League had reiterated his desire to unblock the work underway and to plan the construction of the bridge over the straitwhich connects Reggio Calabria and Messina also taking advantage of the funds of PNRR.
The one in Messina will be the bridge with the longest span in the world followed by the Akashi Strait Bridge located in Japan, 3,911 meters long but with a single span of 1,991 meters. The Japanese Bridge connects two cities on two Japanese islands, and is crossed by around 23,000 cars every day with a toll cost of around 18 euros. The construction site will be open bysummer 2024.
Bridge over the Strait of Messina
The bridge over the Strait of Messina it has always been in the news and divides Italians between those in favor and those against it.
The work was included among the objectives to be achieved and the first piece was placed within a Law Decreeapproved in Council of Ministers of 16 March 2023which introduces urgent provisions for the realization of stable connection between Sicily and Calabria.
The text intervenes in an overall manner in different areas (among the main ones: corporate structure and governance of Stretto di Messina Spa, concession relationship, restart of the planning and design activities of the work, environmental monitoring service), in order to allow, in the most rapid times, the restart of the executive design procedure of the bridge over the Strait of Messina.
Characteristics, spans, measurements, what it will be like
The original project of the bridge over the Strait of Messina from 2011 will be adapted to the new technical standards, safety and environmental. The new authorization process will have to stamp the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world (3.2 kilometres).
In fact, the executive project must be approved “by July 31, 2024”. If the process does not suffer any problems, the actual work will begin by the end of 2024 they will end by 2032.
What the bridge over the Strait of Messina will be like, characteristics
The project of the bridge over the Strait of Messina it is ambitious and a great challenge for those who will be called upon to make it happen. The stable crossing over the strait was designed according to the scheme of suspended bridge. The technical project currently available consists of approximately 8,000 documents and includes the following characteristics:
| NARROW BRIDGE MESSINA CONSTRUCTION FEATURES | MEASURE |
| Overall length (m) | 3,666 |
| Central span length (m) | 3,300 |
| Deck width (m) | 60.4 |
| Road lanes for single direction (6 total) | 3 |
| Railroad tracks | 2 |
| Tower height (m) | 399 |
| Pairs of cables for the suspension system | 2 |
| Overall cable length (m) | 5,230 |
| Suspension cable diameter (m) | 1.26 |
| Number of steel braids per single cable | 44,323 |
| Fairway height (m) | 65 |
| Reinforced concrete volume of anchor blocks (m3) | 533,000 |
| Infrastructure capacity (vehicles x hour) | 6,000 |
| Infrastructure capacity (trains per day) | 200 |
| Degree of seismic resistance (magnitude Richter scale) | 7.1 |
The length of the central span could fluctuate between 3,200 and 3,300 metresin front of 3,666 meters in overall length including the side spans, 60.4 meters of width of the deck, 399 meters of height of the towers, 2 pairs of cables for the suspension system, 5,230 meters of total length of the cables, 1.26 meters of diameter of the suspension cables , 44,323 steel wires for each suspension cable, 65 meters high central navigable channel for the transit of large ships, with a volume of anchor blocks equal to 533,000 cubic metres.
The work consists of 6 lane road3 for each direction of travel (2 + 1 emergency) e 2 railway tracksfor an infrastructure capacity equal to 6,000 vehicles/hour and 200 trains/day. The project also involves the use of the railway infrastructure to create a transport service local public transport between the two cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria.
The bridge was designed with a earthquake resistance equal to 7.1 magnitude of the Richter scale, with a “third generation” aerodynamic deck stable up to wind speed of 270 km/h.
Bridge management company and toll cost
The society Strait of Messina spa was reactivated after being placed into liquidation in 2013 and having spent 600 million euros for projects, work started and penalties. The company structure will be 51% made up of Ministry of Economy and 49% from Italian railway network (RTI), Anas and the regions of Sicily and Calabria. There will be a toll to pay for transit on the bridge, the amount of which has not yet been defined but, with reference to the 18 euros to transit on the 3,911 meter long Japanese Akashi bridge, it is assumed to be less than 50 euros considering that today for the Passage of a car on the ferry to the strait costs 37 euros.
The Chinese with the CCCC company have already shown an interest in the construction of the bridge, but the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini immediately clarified “Chinese companies in the construction of the Messina bridge? There is already a consortium that won the European tender (relating to the old bridge project blocked in 2021 by the Monti government, ed.) and I don't see the possibility that others could get involved. Our aim – the League leader specified – is that a large Italian infrastructure is carried out by Italians”.
Bridge over the strait at seismic risk?
In 2021, a study conducted on the seabed of the Strait of Messina and on the seismo-tectonics of the area was released, carried out by Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences of the University of Catania together with Center for Ocean and Society-Institute of Geosciences at the University of Kiel in Germany and theEtna Observatory of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.
The study established that the Strait area could be highly seismic, as it is located at the fault that triggered the 1908 earthquake. So the engineering challenge is complex, but not impossible.
When will work on the bridge begin?
Work should begin after July 31, 2024 and concretely by the end of 2024 and should be completed by 2032.
History of the bridge
The project of the bridge over the Strait of Messina to connect Sicily to Calabria has never been like this time can happen. During history Italian has repeatedly been the subject of heated debates regarding costs, usefulness and technical feasibilityproposed with a series of varied civil engineering projects, prepared at different times and with different solutions, to create a road and railway crossing building in the Strait of Messina, thus connecting Sicily with Calabria and the Italian peninsula.
In the 1981 the Strait of Messina company was formed. In the 2003 the preliminary project was approved. In the 2009, the work was reinserted into the economic-financial planning document among the strategic infrastructures. In the 2010 was delivered to the Strait of Messina company the final project. The Government of Mario Monti he decided to stop everything. With the Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers of 15 April 2013, the liquidation of the Company was ordered.
The Meloni Government in the Council of Ministers, the March 16, 2023approved the decree-law with which restarted the implementation process of the work through the continuation of the concessionaire relationship, the resumption of contractual relations between the concessionaire company, the general contractor and the other entities entrusted with the services connected to the realization of the work, as well as the termination of the pending litigation.
The Bridge operation involves the establishment of a scientific Committee technical consultancy, supervision and direction of technical project activities. The final design of the bridge It will be integrated and updated according to current requirements and regulations.
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