The design was approved for the Strait of Messina megaproject linking Sicily with mainland Italy. The new suspension bridge, which will carry both road and rail traffic, is expected to cost as much as €13.5 billion. It will directly link Sicily and Calabria, bring a much-needed economic boost to two of Italy’s poorest regions, and replace current ferries.
The suspension bridge will be designed to be able to withstand earthquakes that occur in this area. But this would be a record-breaking structure in many ways. It will have the tallest support towers and longest center span of any suspension bridge ever built. Channels have strong water currents, so they require wide spans.
It’s been almost 2,000 years since the first proposal for a bridge across the Strait of Messina was proposed. This Roman structure was probably of the floating pontoon type floating on interconnected barrels, but it was never built. Many other designs have been proposed and rejected over the centuries, but the pace is increasing as construction techniques improve.
The suspension bridge was proposed in 1990 and discussed for some time, but was canceled in 2006 due to cost. The project was revived in 2009, but canceled in 2013, again due to cost. In Italy, there was skepticism about the project, given the huge cost, the difficulties in constructing such a record-breaking structure, and the fact that it had been proposed and canceled twice in recent decades. There is also a viewpoint.
Meanwhile, Calabria will receive €622.4 million from the Development Cohesion Fund between 2021 and 2027 to further strengthen its transport infrastructure. Of this amount, 388 million euros will be allocated to road works, 140.4 million euros to urban mobility projects and 90.5 million euros to maritime transport.