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Italy To Build World's Longest Suspension Bridge
Rei writes "According to the BBC, Italy has just granted contracts to begin work on the world's longest suspension bridge, connecting the island of Sicily to the mainland. The nearly four kilometer-long bridge across the Messina Straits is to carry a double six-lane highway and four high-speed railway tracks. Its main span will be 3.3 kilometers long; this would over 1.5x the current record-holder, the 1991-meter Akashi-Kaikyo bridge."
"Its main span will be 3.3 kilometers long"
duh.
The US does build them, except they don't lead from anywhere to anywhere.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&s
Only three things are certain; death, taxes, and apocryphal quotations - Ben Franklin.
This project may fail. But then not for technological reasons.
Several previous attempts of multibillion-dollar, EU-funded projects in that region have failed somewhere between Rome and Palermo. Money, people, and concrete have disappeared and there were never any witnesses. Hope things have changed.
The Mackinac Bridge here in michigan is 5 miles long, and held the record for longest suspension span until 1998 at 3/4 mile or so... Is this bridge just being built with NO middle column?? Anyways are some fun links for the Mackinac Bridge (that nobody knows exists it seems): here's all the stats and one pic: http://bridgepros.com/projects/Mackinac/Mackinac.h tm
here's the google images link for nice pics:
http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&c2c off=1&safe=off&q=mackinac+bridge&spell=1
^^^ and why in the hell doesnt slashdot support carriage returns on win2k + mozilla 1.7???
Instead of a concrete skyway like in the Florida Keys, the mayors of Oakland and SF, with the general backing of the Bay Area residents, wanted a signature span instead. The final design has never actually been built anywhere in the world on this scale. Consequently when bids went out for contractors, only one company decided to bid and get involved in this very political situation. Well that bids was far more than expected. Meanwhile over the years the cost of steel has increased dramatically, particularly steel made in the USA, which was a requirement for this project.
Not much--infrastructure-wise. Electrical systems are almost all PLC/Scada and nobody in that market is interested(I've asked.) Video monitoring could be done(multiple streams, real-time display, history, multiplexed displays) but I haven't seen anything. Most of the vertical market management systems are done in Access or VB.
Toll collection is interesting. All the new stuff is on Windows and there is quite a bit of legacy DOS/Netware stuff out there but magnetic/smart/proximity/RFID card readers are open, most banks will open up for EFT, lane control is simple with digital I/O, and bill readers are open. Automatic coin machines are the main problem because manufacturers either tie them to their own toll collection systems or deal in exclusive contracts. The next problem is incorporating something like EZ-Pass--I haven't looked into them and don't know how open they are.
the bridge was planned a lot of time ago, and projects and deployment began right after the last elections results. So it is not an electoral move.
The messina striat is quite efficient, and the status of high-traffic roads in south italy is not as bad as you are trying to present. I personally saw the Salerno-Reggio Calabria and it's completely new. Also in sicily from messina to palermo the road is perfect.
The main problem in south and central italy are the inhabitants.
With Italy's economy in deep trouble right now, and the prime minister's popularity sliding, big infrastructure is an instant financial kick-starter.
The government estimates that construction could provide 40,000 local business opportunities in Sicily and southern Italy.
The problem is that any big infrastructure work is also of interest to organised criminals.
Magistrate Vincenzo Barbaro
The mafia could cash in, says magistrate Vincenzo Barbaro
"The mafia is likely to try to get involved in secondary activities like putting tarmac on the roads or providing concrete," says magistrate Vincenzo Barbaro in Messina's elegant courthouse.
"We're already working with the anti-mafia commission on a project to monitor suspicious business activity, so we hope we can prevent this."
In a restaurant overlooking the cloudless strait of Messina, locals enjoy fish caught fresh from these waters. They have heard arguments about the bridge for nearly 30 years.
"It won't be beautiful for us," says one woman.
"It's too big and I don't want to live in its shadow."
"We have water shortages here. Why don't they sort those out before building a bridge?" says her husband.
"It's a dream, nothing more."
From www.beppegrillo.it
A bridge costing 3,880,000,000 Euro to save 20 minutes
Attacking the Messina Bridge is like attacking the Red Cross. This is plain even to an idiot who is completely useless, even though he is useful to the interests of someone.
After the ad hoc laws, we now have the ad hoc construction work.
The bridge is of no use to the Italians, including those from Reggio and from Messina, divided by nature for a million years. To go from Salerno to Reggio Calabria, it takes 48 hours. Then the bridge will allow you to save 20 minutes to get to Sicily.
The country has other priorities that are real. Motorways and railways are in an abysmal state.
The 3,880,000,000 Euro are ours. Why should we spend them for a useless construction? Our employees, incapable of managing our public debt, before spending the money for the bridge should explain how we will get a return on the money, and explain the utility, the environmental impact and the do-ability.
A 3,000 metre bridge with an aerodynamic profile, has never been constructed up to now.
There's no guarantee that it will stand up, especially if you consider that it's in a zone of major seismic activity (remember the Messina earthquake?) and with incredibly strong currents.
On this point refer to the interview with the Professor of architectural construction, Massimo Majowiecki. Some of his conclusions are given here.
"The Delegations of Superintendence of ANAS {Roads}, of FF.SS {railways} and the Ministry of Public
Works, in July 1995 conclude: " that the Progetto di Massima Definitivo {the final project plan} presented in December 1992, even given the undoubted value of the information supplied, it is not yet possible to indicate which project is definitely the one to be developed into a construction project, to be translated into the building of a bridge and a global passage across."
In present conditions, the technical uncertainties stil remain...."
But the bridge will create jobs and contracts and will get the approval of the Confindustria {employers' organisation} and of the Unions. Perhaps it would be better to get them to dig holes and fill them in again. It's a useless activity, but at least it wouldn't cause harm.
Beppe Grillo
Without wishing in any way to denigrate the Viaduc de Millau, it is not comparable to the Japanese bridge in engineering difficulty. The French effort is the highest bridge, but the Japanese bridge consists of three spans of 960, 1991 and 960 metres respectively. A main span of almost two kilometres is a formidible challenge under any circumstances, and especially when it must be built to withstand an 8.5 magnitude earthquake with an epicentre within 150 kilometres.
Italy does indeed have earthquakes. They have been recorded from earliest Roman times to the present.
Some information
In Italy, nobody ever uses the rightmost lane, so emergency traffic shouldn't have any problems moving about (unless they also refuse to use that lane for the same mysterious reason as the other drivers).
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
the bridge was planned a lot of time ago, and projects and deployment began right after the last elections results. So it is not an electoral move.
Actually yes, it was an electoral move. But it was an electoral move two elections ago.
The messina striat is quite efficient, and the status of high-traffic roads in south italy is not as bad as you are trying to present. I personally saw the Salerno-Reggio Calabria and it's completely new. Also in sicily from messina to palermo the road is perfect. Is that a joke or something? I live in Catania, my father has worked near Siracusa for tens of years, my girlfriend is from Matera, I have relatives all over Sicily, and some others that have moved (some temporarily, some permanently) to cities northern of Rome. I think this entitles me to a more thorough knowledge about the conditions of "high-traffic roads" in the South in general and in Sicily in particular.
And for sure "high-traffic roads" are scarcer and in much worse conditions than they are in the rest of Italy. As I mentioned, most (surely not all) the major cities are reached by these "high-traffic" roads, but this is scarcely significant for most of the population. Some of the most important high-traffic roads (e.g. SS 114) are still in abysmal conditions, and the ones that exist can in no way hold a comparison with what they have up north; or did you happen to pass by in one of the lucky days in which the one-lane-per-direction in the SA-RC and ME-PA is less than 50%, and you had no truck or caravan in front of you?
And let's not even get started on the railroads systems.
The main problem in south and central italy are the inhabitants.
This, I can related to.
"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart" (Linus van Pelt)
Well, there's the emergency lane, as in most european countries (at least on highways), then there's the rightmost traffic lane. Which is empty.
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
I don't doubt that at all. Being two lanes in either direction it doesn't lend itself to allowing traffic to flow around them. Though, a bridge as wide as the one proposed, with the (comparatively) short distance proposed, shouldn't have as much of a problem.
As an aside my most unusual experience was heading in to the tunnel and noticing I was headed *under* a US Navy submarine.
I can imagine. It's a very surreal span of roadway. I've only been on it once, but I was quite astonished. For those who haven't crossed it: After you're a couple miles into crossing it you can't see land at all. Then, approaching the tunnels, the bridge looks to disappear into the water until you get closer and see the mouth of the tunnel.