The Italy government– Through the Ministerial Committee – approved a project to build the longest pendant bridge in the worldwith the aim of joining the island of Sicily with the continent. Preliminary works are expected to start between January and March next year.
In total, the project will have an approximate cost of US $ 16,000 million, as confirmed by an official spokesman for the Minister of Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini. “An infrastructure of this type represents an accelerator of development”the Italian authorities detailed.
Italy will build the world’s long suspension bridge
The news was confirmed by the Deputy Prime Minister – and Minister of Italian Infrastructure – Matteo Salvini. “It will be the longest suspension bridge in the world. An infrastructure of this type represents a development accelerator”, Confirmed the official.
Presented as one unprecedented infrastructure workhe Messina Strait Bridge Returns a central place on the Italian government agenda. With estimated completion date for 2032the project is officially described as a “engineering feat.”
Despite the official enthusiasm, skepticism in the local population persists. Many doubt that the work comes to complete, remembering a long tradition of public projects in Italy that were announced, financed and then abandoned. Mesina’s own bridge accumulates a story of failures: the first plans date back more than half a century.
In detail, the Italian government launched the first calls in 1969 And, since then, The project was approved and canceled on multiple occasions. However, the idea of joining Sicily with the Peninsula has even deeper roots, which date back to times of the Roman Empire.
The current relaunch took shape in 2023, promoted by the management of the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, that decided to advance with determination to turn the project into a reality. At this stage, The Executive has a strategic advantage: the cost of the bridge was included in the defense budgetwhich could facilitate access to financing and accelerate its execution.
In addition to the technical challenge, the Italian executive bets that the bridge promotes economic growth and employment in two of the poorest regions of the country: Sicily and Calabria. Salvini promised that construction will generate tens of thousands of jobs.
What will the suspension bridge that will link Sicily with the continental territory
The work is presented as a Modern engineering featcapable of supporting extreme winds and seismic movements in one of the most active geologically active regions of the Mediterranean, where two tectonic plates converge.
The design contemplates two central railways and three vehicular lanes on each side. The hanging structure will be sustained by tensioned twin cables between towers of 400 meters high, With a suspended main section of 3,300 meterswhich would make it the longest suspension bridge in the world.
The project not only seeks to connect Sicily with the Italian Peninsula, but also intends to position itself as a global infrastructure milestone. To facilitate its financing, the Executive classified the work within the defense budget, which gives it strategic priority and access to funds that would otherwise be more restrictive.
The company in charge of the construction, Webuild, He has experience in this type of megaestructure. He was responsible for Çanakkale bridge, in Türkiye – which currently holds the longest suspension bridge title with A main stretch of 2,023 meters –opened in 2022. As explained by the company, that structure was designed with an aerodynamic profile inspired by the fuselage of a combat plane and a perforated roof that allows the passage of the wind through the bridge. That same concept was originally devised for the Messina bridge.
Given the concerns about the seismic activity in the Strait – active by the memory of the 1908 earthquake – Webuild stressed that the hanging bridges are less vulnerable to the seismic forces. The company recalled that “Similar infrastructures have been successfully built in seismically active regions such as Japan, Türkiye and California”
The webuild CEO, Pietro Salini, supported the project in a recent meeting with investors, where he assured that the Messina bridge “It will be revolutionary for Italy.”
Source: Ambito
