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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."
We're italian and that's only an announce. Do you really believe that we can build something like that? Well, an interesting reading about it on grillo's blog
why would it cause "havoc"? Surely it will be heavily monitored live by camera and other methods. It's going to be a double six-lane highway!! There's no reason one of the lanes couldn't be reserved for emergency traffic. Also, it's only 2.5 miles long. Huge for a bridge but nothing special otherwise. You could therefore reach any point on the bridge in about a minute. I have to say I'm not seeing any show-stoppers here.
- "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
It's election time again in Italy and Berlusconi needs the votes of Sicilies citizens.
So he pulls out the old bridge plans like he did the last time and the time before.
Don't expect to travel to Sicily on try feet too soon.
>Yeah, well I sure beat the Italians wish they spent more money on their army after WWII. Its a shame they had to rebuild their entire freaking country. History, >doesn't teach us anything.
.... :)
;)
hi, i write from italy, emh, the bridge is new, is not rebuilded after the WWII, its a shame that the US Gov spent too much money in army to make war all around the world instead spending in istruction and story book.
BWT the bridge is not a good things, many of the people living in Sicilia and Calabria don't want it, cos will be devastating for enviroment.. but the Italy "president" Silvio Berlusconi (bleah!!) need to do this for glory and ammiration of people who don't know the real story of the bridge.
ok. sorry from my bad english, shame that italian gov didnt spent some money in english book
greetings from the Family
There are plenty of bridges that are longer than that and they serve their purpose well. This is just the longest suspension bridge. I've personally used the 23-mile bridge-tunnel across the Chesapeake Bay. Also consider the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, it's 23 miles all above water. Neither of them are as wide as this bridge is proposed to be, either.
How would they prevent against this?
Exactly the same way they prevent terrorist attacks against anything else - a combination of physical security and intelligence. Is it infallible? Of course not. But everything, everywhere is vulnerable to terrorist attacks, nothing new there.
How would they prevent against this? It seems such a bridge has two critical failure points at both ends and one or more in the middle.
I know they have water to cross, so its size doesn't appear to be the motivation, as say for the tallest building etc. but I think these are issues which (sadly) need to be considered.
Jesus Christ on a pogo stick! Can we even mention constructing a structure larger than a Taco Bell without someone saying "Well, that's a nice idea, but The Terrorists could just blow it up." Here's a whack from The Reality Stick for you. The Terrorists can (and will) Blow Stuff Up. They're generally going to do it where there are a lot of people in order to maximize Body Count (aka Terror). Fortunately, for The Terrorists, the world is a target rich environment because for the past 10,000 years people have not advanced "Well, that's a nice idea, but The Terrorists could just blow it up" as a credible reason to abandon major projects. A new world's longest bridge or World's Blankest Blank will be yet another target and life will go on.
Now, I'm not advancing this bridge as a good idea. There may be, and probably are, many legitimate reasons why it should be built differently or even not at all. However, suggesting that every new structure should be terrorist proof is delusional.
Peter
Downsize DC Today!
This is just a political manoeuvre by the Governemt.
They don't have the money to support it.
None seems to be really interested in such a thing (not even in Sicilia).
Scientists warn against it: the Etna volcano is just 50 Km far from there.
But stock quotes of the company that should build the bridge are going up any time someone quotes the bridge.
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
If we needed 'em, we'd build 'em. I'm not into pouring money into pet projects that gain us nothing but a world record that'll last for just a few years, especially at the cost of something like a military.
In a lot of places you will see bridges built next to each other - sometimes it's cheaper to build a whole new bridge instead of tacking another bit on the side.
The cost of stuff in the Bay area are most likely irrelevant to the project, since stuff will come in from elsewhere.
"How come?"
Italy doesn't have to deal with CalTrans, or the fifty gazillion other state and Bay Area agencies with noses in the project. I believe California's nuthouse approval processes have long eclipsed even the famed Italian bureaucracy.
Since when did any new bridge like this in America include more than one rail line, if any?
Software freedom...I love it!
Please be aware that this is a plan that's been around for more than twenty years now, and it's not feasible. The wind is just too strong (been there last month, I saw it), the zone is a sismic one and generally noone cares anyway, because the roads that would bring people to the bridge (the infamous Salerno-Reggio Calabria) are ancient to be kind and generally a wreck.
Be also aware that this is election time, and our prime citizen Berlusconi will lose. So he bring out this old project, to gain some thousands of votes, and will leave it to the next administration to realize. Same old story...
(see the Mose project to protect Venice from floodings)
"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart" (Linus van Pelt)
Please, call it engineering... Some of us, civil eng also read /.
I wonder if Mr. Berlusconi has heard of a place called Sardinia.
Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
Surely it will be heavily monitored live by camera and other methods. It's going to be a double six-lane highway!! There's no reason one of the lanes couldn't be reserved for emergency traffic. Also, it's only 2.5 miles long. Huge for a bridge but nothing special otherwise. You could therefore reach any point on the bridge in about a minute. I have to say I'm not seeing any show-stoppers here.
Ok guy, you weren't born in Sicily..
This is Sicily. You know who's going to be providing the local labour? The construction firms you're going to find down there are, shall we say, family businesses.
Might not work out all that cheap, but at least they won't have to worry about union trouble ;-)
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
Do you know how many people and tons of goods used to cross the channel by ship?
A couple of magnitude orders more than the Canale di Messina!
The distance between the two sides is 20 times larger in the British Channel.
And, moreover, there is no active volcano snoring close to the tunnel.
I'd spend those money and efforts in something more useful or less useless at least.
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]