On this edition of Roadscapes Wednesday, on a Thursday, let’s talk about the bridge disaster in Italy. A section of the Morandi bridge which carries the Autostrada A10 came crashing down. Nearly 40 people were killed by this. And this bridge was something many locals were scared to cross. The bridge was built in the 1960’s, and soon began to have problems. The private company who maintains many Autostratas in Italy, the Autostrade Per Italia, has done projects on the bridge. But a rough storm caused part of the bridge to come down. The bridge was featured on a video from YouTube channel astey highways.
Here’s the thing, the Autostrada network around Genoa is very substandard. Autostrada A7 is very curvy, narrow, and features no shoulders on some of its length. And between Genoa and Milano, A7 has one side where it’s the old side where it’s very curvy, narrow, and you wonder why it’s a motorway? A10 between Genoa and the France border was mostly built on a cliffside where it has a lot of tunnels and viaducts. The Autostrada only features 2 lanes, no shoulders, and very short exit and entrance ramps.
The entire Autosrada needs to be upgraded, with shoulders and I would say six lanes. But, that would make the rate for tolls through the roof, and Autostrada A10 has already some of the highest tolls of any Autostrada in Italy. Autostrade Per Italia maintains a part of A10 and Autostrada dei Fiori SpA maintains the other part. From the videos featuring the Autostrata on YouTube, you can see why it needs an upgrade.
Well, this bridge disaster was rough to see. I hope the new bridge that will replace this bad bridge will not only be wide enough, it will also redesign the A10 / A7 interchange. To go north onto A7, traffic has to do a complete 360 loop on a ramp. Hopefully a new bypass of Genoa will also be built that will be a modern Autostrada. I hope we see A7 and A10 upgraded as well. Wonder where the funds will come from? Since a private company maintains the Autostrada network. And this is why I do not support private companies maintaining roadways. It’s always profit before safety.
Categories: Roadscapes Stuff
