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Sicilian Suspension Bridge to Go Ahead
SpanningTheGap writes "According to the BBC, Italy plans on building a suspension bridge connecting the Italian mainland with the island of Sicily. The bridge will be five kilometers long and its central span will be over three kilometers long, easily breaking the old record length for a suspension bridge. The artist's conception image of the monster is a sight to see. Another article with more info can be found here." There's a website with assorted technical info about the design.
how this will affect the culture of both areas. I know throughout history that small gap of water served as enough of a barrier to make sicily a distinct separate culture, is this bridge an end to that? or is this already the case due to other transportation?
This does not bode well for their engineers, if they failed to notice a little thing like a crooked support tower . . .
Insert humorous sig here.
"Finally if you had bothered to read to the end of the article, the greens are against not because it would be ugly, but simple because the money could be better spent on a clean water supply for all the local population."
I wonder if their argument is a bit backwards. The situation in Sicily might be caused by the fact that they have no good access to the mainland. With easier access both ways, it might result in changes to the island social climate such that the problem will end up being solved as a byproduct.
In some ways, "build it and they will come" might actually work. Much sillier things have happened.
I will admit that the bridge's price tag is HUGE. Such a move has a lot of risk and should be considered with all due care.
*Sigh* Never seen a photo from a fish eye lens? That effect actually makes the bridge even more impressive.
Lies about crimes
You could study the same issue in S. Sweden and E. Denmark. Being long ago populated by boat-oriented people, the nowdays Swedish provinces of Halland, Blekinge and Scania used to belong to Denmark until the mid 1600s. Sweden took it and kept it, but now there is a bridge connecting the two and many towns and cities in Scania are rapidly turning to suburbs of Copenhagem. Housing prices are getting more Danish. Outgoing foreign mail from as far as the next province north in Sweden gets outsourced to Denmark.
Hopefully the Sicilians will learn from the Danish bridge and not waste extra lanes on cars, but use them for trains instead. No one smart enough to read a road sign is going to take their car into a congested capital, when it's shorter to drive around it and alternatives like taxis, buses and trains exist. Planners (intentionally?) underestimated the popularity of the train between Sweden and Denmark and have not provided enough cars nor frequent enough departures duriing peak hours, so during rush hour it's frequently as crowded as a New York subway.
> I seriously doubt that it'll ever be built, but the Gibraltar Bridge [discovery.com] is a fascinating concept nonetheless.
9 *miles* long, with 3 towers, each almost twice the height of the CN Tower. Crazy!
If the Gibralter Bridge is ever built, I predict it to be an incredible boost to the economies of both Europe and Africa. Industry in Europe could gain by getting cheap labor in Africa, while nations in Africa will receive heavy investments - Improving their infrastructure. Surely it would be a Win-Win situation for both Africa and Europe.
Like the Tunnel connecting France and Great Brittain, I think it is likely bridges like these would only be feasible if high speed railways are used. High speed railways would allow more traffic and therefore higher revenues to help offset the costs. Unfortunately, I don't think Railways at the southern Regions of the Italian Mainland are currently up to the task. As Americans, we might fail to realize that railways are a primary mode of transportation in most of Europe. Although Expressways do exist, Many people choose to not drive at all because train rides are cheap yet convienient.
It is my belief that the Sicilian Bridge will require much greater investments than the bridge itself to become sucessful. Traffic is what pays for gigantic projects like this, and without high speed railways and expressways it may be difficult.