Roads & Motorways

Bridge over the Messina Channel

Road links between the Bridge over the channel and the existing primary roads
Owner/client SINA S.p.A.
Type of service Final Design
Location Provinces of Messina and Reggio Calabria
Period 2010 - 2011
Cost more than € 1.000.000.000

The design concerns the new road infrastructure needed to integrate the existing road network with the Bridge over the Messina Channel in order to functionally connect two geographic areas of great economic and social relevance.

The road system is the link element between two motorways that are currently independent and not connected, the A3 Salerno-Reggio Calabria (in Calabria) and the A20 Messina-Palermo / A18 Messina-Catania system (in Sicily).

The design concerns the establishment of a connection between Cannitello in Calabria and Ganzirri in Sicily by means of a single-span suspension bridge (3300 m) with six road traffic lanes and two railway tracks of 3666 m overall length, supported by two piles 398 m high (376 m above sea level) erected on the shores of Calabria and Sicily.

The relevant works also include the creation of connections with existing roads and railways, namely the motorway Salerno-Reggio Calabria, the Messina-Catania, the Messina-Palermo and the high-capacity railway that in the future should connect Naples and Reggio C. with an extension as far as Palermo (Corridor 1 Berlin-Palermo).
The system is completed by connections to the local road network in a lower functional class, a system of junctions and ramps to access the new Management Center and roads to allow access to the Bridge for service and emergency vehicles.

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Our design concerns the road infrastructure needed to integrate the existing road network with the Bridge over the Messina Channel: 10.5 km in Sicily (of which approx. 67% in tunnels) for connection to the motorways A18 Messina-Catania and A20 Messina-Palermo; 9.8 km in Calabria (of which approx. 64% in tunnels) for connection to the new route of the A3 Salerno-Reggio Calabria motorway.

The infrastructure identified is the result of a number of discussions and optimizations that can be grouped into the following macro-categories:

1) Consistency of the design with the rules concerning the design of road infrastructures, with special focus on the safety standards for new motorways.

2) Optimization for construction purposes, since the route mainly develops in tunnels and, therefore, the underground works are a key element for the feasibility of the work, both in economic terms and with regard to the relevant construction time.

3) Implementation of the suggestions coming from the territory: following meetings with the municipal authorities involved, a number of territorial consequences of the proposed route have arisen that made it necessary to modify some significant sections of the road from a planimetric and altimetric perspective.

The new road system creates the link between two currently unconnected and independent motorways, the A3 Salerno-Reggio Calabria (in Calabria) and the A20 Messina-Palermo / A18 Messina-Catania (in Sicily).