The Stretto di Messina SpA, the Italian state company established to design, build and manage the Strait of Messina Bridge connecting the island of Sicily to the Italian mainland, approved the update of the executive project in a board meeting on Feb. 15. Now, all preparatory work, such as reclamation, archaeological, geognostic and geotechnical investigations, preparation of base camps, can start.
Actual construction should start this summer and the bridge should be completed in 2032. With a 3.3 km single span (total length 3.6 km), it will be the longest suspension bridge in the world. It will create 40,000 jobs directly and 100,000 indirectly. It will not only connect 5 million Sicilians with the continent, but will also allow the completion of the Scan-Med corridor, from Oslo-Stockholm to Palermo-Catania, entirely connected through a 9,500 km high-speed rail line, that partially already exists. (Another large infrastructure project is the new 64 km Brenner Base Tunnel under the Alps, which will quadruple the railway lines between Italy and Austria and allow a speed of 250 kmh.)
The Messina Bridge has many technical innovations, including a new aerodynamic deck that was licensed to the Turkish Canakkale bridge.
