The Italian government has agreed to a plan for a 3.7 -kilometer bridge that connects Sicily with mainland Italy. That to write Italian media Wednesday. If the Italian Court of Audit is also agreed, the work can start at the end of September or the beginning of October.
The project will at least cost 13.5 billion euros and must be completed in 2032 or 2033. According to transport minister Matteo Salvini, the bridge is “the largest infrastructure project in the West,” he said after the announcement. According to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the bridge becomes “a technical symbol of global significance.”
On the bridge there are two lanes in both directions and double track for train traffic. Six thousand cars per hour and two hundred trains a day must be able to be able to drive over the bridge. Where the travel time by car is now 1 hour and 40 minutes (on a ferry), it will be 10 minutes. Train travelers will save 2.5 hours, says Salvini. The bridge must also give tourism in Sicily a boost.
For decades, the construction of the bridge has been discussing in Italy, but partly due to the high costs and the difficult feasibility of the construction, the plan was not concrete for a long time.
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