Bridge over the strait of Messina

Condotte 1880 holds a 15% stake in the Eurolink consortium, which holds the contract with the concessionaire company “Stretto di Messina” for the design, construction, and management (excluding the railway line) of the road and rail link between Sicily and Calabria, a strategic project of primary national interest, included in the European Union’s infrastructure network. The Eurolink consortium is formed by Webuild, a leading global construction company and the majority shareholder, as well as Japan’s IHI, a world leader in suspension bridges, and Spain’s Sacyr, which has extensive experience in complex projects. Condotte boasts extensive experience in the construction of road and rail bridges and viaducts, having built hundreds of kilometers of them worldwide, starting in the early 1900s. To construct many of these structures, Condotte leveraged its patent for the single-piece prefabrication of prestressed caissons, launched with proprietary equipment that significantly reduced construction times. Among the numerous viaducts constructed, one particularly noteworthy is the one built in 1973 over the Paraná River in Argentina, one of the first cable-stayed bridges, a type of suspension bridge supported by a series of cables anchored to pylons. Condotte also has considerable experience in underground construction, using both traditional and mechanized methods, having for many years been the leading company in Italy in terms of kilometers of tunnels constructed.

The role of President of the Consortium has been entrusted to Gianni De Gennaro, who will be responsible for managing relations with the concessionaire “Società Stretto di Messina”.

The concessionaire, which had been placed into liquidation, was reactivated after the government decided to carry out the project, estimated by the Ministry of Infrastructure, in the annex to the 2024 DEF, the economic and financial document, for an updated cost of 13.5 billion, entirely covered by the 2025 budget.

Chaired by Giuseppe Recchi and with Pietro Ciucci as CEO, the “Società Stretto di Messina” has a fully paid-up capital of 672.5 billion, divided into 55% by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, 36% by ANAS, 5.8% by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, 1.1% by the Calabria Region and 1.1% by the Sicilian Region.

Eurolink is the general contractor, which was awarded through an international tender. It will be responsible for the final and detailed design, and construction of the bridge and its road and rail links. Eurolink also supervises the work, monitors the environmental site, and manages HSE. The Danish company Cowi is the project designer.

Given that environmental compatibility and maximum safety with respect to earthquakes, wind, and rail accessibility have been taken into account, the bridge project envisions a total length of 3,666 m, including two lateral spans of 183 m each. The central suspended span is 3,300 m, while the towers on either side are 399 m high. The suspension system will consist of four cables, each 1.26 m in diameter, composed of 940,000 km of steel wires. The bridge will rise 70 m above sea level with full load of the road lanes and two passenger trains simultaneously. The bridge deck width is 60.4 m, with three road lanes in each direction, two service lanes, and two railway tracks, with a maximum capacity of 200 trains per day and 6,000 vehicles per hour. The bridge also includes 40 km of road and rail connections. On the Calabrian side, approximately 9.9 km of road connections are planned, 41% of which will be tunnels, with ramps connecting to the A2 motorway. The railway system will consist of a 2.7 km route, 84% of which will be underground, connecting both the historic Tyrrhenian line and the future Salerno-Reggio Calabria high-speed/high-capacity line.

On the Sicilian side, the project is even more extensive, with 10.4 km of new roads and 17.5 km of railways, 71% of which are tunnels, and two main mechanized excavations, totaling over 15 km. Highway connections connect the bridge to the main A18 and A20 motorways. The project also includes the construction of a new railway line connecting the bridge to the city of Messina, with three stations.

Completion of the works, if the Court of Auditors issues its opinion by 2025, is expected by 2032.

In Calabria, not far from the bridge, in the Piale area of ​​the municipality of Villa San Giovanni, the Centro Direzionale will be built. This multifunctional complex, designed by renowned urban design architect Daniel Liberskind, will house the bridge’s management offices, a conference center, and shops and restaurants. Liberskind noted that the Messina Strait Crossing project creates a connection between the two coasts, while also offering the opportunity to rest in an extraordinary setting, a place for contemplation and enjoyment. “In fact,” he emphasized, “the bridge itself is an object that unites, symbolizing freedom of movement. A place of aggregation and encounter between cultures — this is the importance and significance of the 21st-century bridge.”