The process of transferring part of the state roads to regions and provinces for some years has been in the opposite direction: thousands of kilometers of local roads have become part of the national one, increasing the need for funds
The recent story of the increase in motorway tolls, scheduled starting from 1 August and then deletedbrought to light the issue of management by theAnas of stretches of roads already under his control, then passed to local authorities, and returned in his area in more recent times. The tariff increase, contemplated in an amendment to the infrastructure decree during approval, was aimed at increasing the fee included in the tolls and intended for Anas for road maintenance: a sum of about 90 million euros per yearnecessary to make fronts at the higher costs due to high energy prices, necessary for lighting, and the “redefinition of the road network” managed, that is, to the greatest number of kilometers of which the body, from 2018 part of the State Railway Group, must take charge. The increase was, in truth of modest entity, being equal to a thousandth of euros per kilometer, in practice one euro every 1,000 kilometers traveledbut reasons of political opportunities led the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini to ask for the withdrawal of the amendment. The necessary resources will be found in any other way, probably by resorting to a existing fund (The central guarantee fund for the highways and metropolitan railways), originally intended for new projects and usable to cover the greatest costs: however, the curiosity remains to understand the mechanism on the basis of which the road network managed by the Anas has been deflated over time, and then return to swell in more recent times.
decentralization
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Let’s start from a brief premise: the highway code divides our road network into state, regional, provincial and municipal roads: only the former are of national interest and, therefore, are managed by Anas. It is historical arteries Which often follow the paths of the consularists traced by the ancient Romans, such as Aurelia, Flaminia, Cassia and Salaria. In 1997, however, a law, called Bassanini from the surname of the then minister of public function, provided for a series of measures based on the principle of decentralization and administrative federalism: the state intended to be relieved of some functions, to make the bureaucratic processes more streamlined. On the basis of this theoretical system, the central administration began to delegate a series of competences to regions, provinces and municipalities, including a part of the road network not considered of national interest. The Anas, therefore, took part in part of its network and to transfer its management to regions and provinces, who classified long sections of the previous SS such as SR and SP the first bodies to take responsibility for their network were the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano, then gradually the process of road federalism led to the transfer of increasingly longer road traits, leading to a reduction of about 4,000 kilometers of the extent of the network already in the first two years of application of the legislation. Often they were arteries of a certain importance, such as stretches of the SS 11 Padana Superiore in Veneto, the SS 9 via Emilia, the SS 12 of Abetone and Brenner, the SS 7 Appia and the SS 125 Eastern Sardinian.
local problems
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The territorial administrations, with the passage of the time, however found themselves in difficulty in dealing with the commitments deriving from the increase in their road network: the maintenance and conservation of carriage cards, galleries, bridges and viaducts requires resources, economic and techniques, of which provinces and regions are often not adequately equipped. Local authorities, with the exhausted and absorbed coffers from other expenditure chapters (to the regions, for example, the health is responsible for the provinces of school construction), have proven to be not able to cope with the needs of a road network grown considerably and in need of constant maintenance and improvement interventions. In addition to the money, in the smallest realities, sufficient human resources were also lacking in technical offices to cope with the excreed amount of commitments. Thus, there was a progressive degradation of roadswith striking tips in certain areas, such as the province of Pavia, climbing the limelight of the chronicles precisely for this type of difficulty. In 2018, twenty years after the start of decentralization, a “Return Return” plan began, established by the Anas in concert with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport; 6,500 kilometers of state, which became regional and provincial, began to gradually return under the management of the state body. The plan provided for allocations of funds for 1.1 billion euros and a more phases development; At the end of that year, 3,513 kilometers of roads returned to Anas, including 1,619 between bridges and viaducts and 123 galleries, scattered in Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Lazio, Liguria, Marche, Molise, Puglia, Tuscany and Umbria. The second phase, launched in April 2021, provided for the return of about 3,000 kilometers, including Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont, Lombardy and Tuscany, including about 1,300 bridges, immediately subjected to monitoring following the collapse of the Morandi viaduct of Genoa (which took place on August 14, 2018). This explains how Anas, who had found himself managing a network of about 25,000 kilometers of roads, today checks over 32,300including toll-free highways (such as Salerno-Reggio Calabria), junctions and coplanar; a network that includes 2,157 Galleriesin need of monitoring and maintenance, and which constitutes, together with the highways, a fundamental bone of the mobility of our country.
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