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Genoa lays the last stretch of its new bridge

2020-04-28T02:26:24.010Z


Despite the confinement imposed since March 10 in Italy, where around 27,000 people were killed by the pandemic, construction of the building continued day and night.


The last section of the new bridge in Genoa, built after the collapse of an viaduct that killed 43 people in 2018, will be laid on Tuesday, a symbol of welcome renewal in Italy hit hard by the Covid-19 epidemic. Despite the confinement imposed since March 10 in Italy, where around 27,000 people were killed by the pandemic, construction of the building continued day and night in Genoa, a major port city in the north of the country.

"While the rest of the country was trying to figure out how to stop, here the question was how to continue," said Pietro Salini, boss of the construction company that built this bridge with the engineering subsidiary of the naval group Fincantieri . “Today and tomorrow will be the last 40 meters. Everyone is aware of the symbolic weight of the advancement of this new viaduct which treats the wound of Genoa ” , writes on Monday the Corriere della Sera , main daily of the peninsula. The news on the progress of the project allowed the Italians "to imagine a new start, they allowed them to be proud" , according to the daily.

Read also: Genoa Viaduct: the result of more than half a century of carelessness

The installation of the last piece of this viaduct of about a kilometer long, spanning part of the city, began Monday afternoon and will end Tuesday in the morning, announced the local authorities. The last stretch Tuesday does not mark the end of the titanic site. The bridge will still have to be paved and solar panels and transparent windbreaks installed. Then comes the time for testing. "We hope to see the first vehicles cross the bridge by the end of July," said Pietro Salini.

Renzo Piano at work

On August 14, 2018, in the pouring rain, the Morandi motorway bridge, named after the engineer who designed it, an essential axis for trade with France but also for local journeys, had caused dozens to fall vehicles, on the road for vacation or work. Among the 43 victims were four children. Inaugurated in 1967, the bridge has long been subject to serious structural problems, involving costly maintenance work. Its collapse on a railway track had brought to light the dilapidated state of certain infrastructures in Italy.

The new bridge was designed by star architect Renzo Piano, a native of Genoa who designed, among others, the Center Pompidou and the new Palais de justice in Paris, or the Tower The Shard in London. White and streamlined, it must have the shape of the hull of a boat, a tribute to the maritime history of the city. It will be topped by 43 light antennas, the number of people who have died.

Read also: Coronavirus: in Italy, the heroes are tired

At the same time, the legal battle over this disaster is in full swing. On the one hand the main accused, the company Autostrade per l'Italia (Aspi), manager of this road viaduct and property of the Benetton family, on the other side the families of the victims and many politicians who consider the collapse as a result of poor maintenance and accuse Aspi of neglecting security. "The Morandi bridge (...) collapsed because it no longer managed to stand up ", had summed up in August 2019 the prosecutor of Genoa, Francesco Cozzi. The trial (s) will be announced as a titanic enterprise: 74 people targeted by the investigation, including managers of companies from the Benetton group and officials from various administrations, more than 100 lawyers, 120 legal experts, 75 witnesses and tons of physical documents and evidence.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2020-04-28

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