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Guerra Report-Webuild on the Bridge over the Strait of Messina

5 months ago babelfish

Guerra Report-Webuild on the Bridge over the Strait of Messina

The Bridge over the Strait causes Report to argue with a Facebook page with a name that leaves no room for the imagination: Bridge over the Strait of Messina

Will Matteo Salvini be the man of the Strait Bridge? The question is asked by the program Report which in the last episode, with various arguments, demolished the project for the construction of the bridge over the Strait of Messina. The episode stimulated debate and a Facebook page , Bridge over the Strait of Messina, which defends the construction of the Bridge over the Strait, responded to Report 's criticism. “The post against Report was sent to many journalistic editorial offices and online newspapers by Francesca Bronzi who appears to be senior account of the company Sec Newgate, a global strategic communication and advocacy group – wrote the Rai3 broadcast -. From the attached emails, Francesca Bronzi appears to also be in charge of WeBuild communication". The latter is the giant of published works led by Pietro Salini which will build the Bridge and which in recent days has received indirect criticism from the Minister of Defence, Guido Crosetto, for unclear reasons ( here is the in-depth analysis from Start Magazine ). The Bridge over the Strait of Messina page, following a Facebook check, was first blocked and then, after complaints from the animators, reactivated.

BRIDGE OVER THE STRAIT OF MESSINA: THE PAST OF ANAS AND PIETRO CIUCCI

Danilo Procaccianti's report for the program hosted by Sigfrido Ranucci starts from the criticism of Pietro Ciucci's management of Anas, during which three viaducts collapsed. In particular, the Scorciavacche viaduct on the Palermo-Agrigento line collapsed on 30 December 2014, just six days after it was inaugurated without testing. “There was an error in the planning and construction phase of the work – said the former President and General Director of Anas Pietro Ciucci -, but the viaduct, that viaduct was an adequate technical solution to the problem to be overcome ”. Something more than an error, given that the Palermo Prosecutor's Office hypothesized crimes and sent 13 people to trial, including Pietro Ciucci. However, for the thirteen people involved in the investigation the statute of limitations is almost certain. Despite this progress, the Minister of Infrastructure Matteo Salvini has entrusted Pietro Ciucci with the management of the construction of the Bridge over the Strait. A choice that, Report underlines, pleases Messina builders. “In my opinion he is the only person who knows the Bridge machine perfectly”. Speaking like this is Giuseppe Ricciardiello, President of Ance Messina, a Sicilian manufacturer, today on trial because he was involved in the famous investigation into the Black Lady, the Anas manager Antonella, who according to the prosecution was at the head of a whirlwind ring of bribes which in the wiretaps defined cherries.

CONCERNS ABOUT MAFIOUS INFILTRATION

“Del Ponte has always been discussed, even in criminal circles. What is the risk? It's that the bridge doesn't connect two coasts, but connects two gangs." This is what Giuseppe Lombardo, Deputy Prosecutor of Reggio Calabria, says. “This absolutely must not happen, why am I saying this? Because there were years in which the entire Messina area was an area headed by Ndrangheta families – says the magistrate -. There will certainly be appetites, but they will no longer be appetites linked to the single territorial structure that controls that territory, but to higher level components". A high level of criminal associations is moving. These are subjects able to move at the height of the "strategic direction" of the bridge over the Strait of Messina. “There is a very high level in the two Calabrian and Sicilian components, in which the two components become one,” adds prosecutor Lombardo. The mafia alarm regarding the construction of the bridge over the Strait had also been launched by the most powerful diplomacy in the world, the American one. Concerns had also emerged in Julian Assange's Wikileaks papers.

MAFIA: THE REPLICA OF THE BRIDGE OVER THE STRAIT OF MESSINA PAGE

The page Bridge over the Strait of Messina responds to this concern in this way: “This statement is very dangerous. Not creating the works for fear of organized crime is the best method to bring the territory to ruin and destroy the future of the population. In any case, we do not understand the sensitivity regarding this work specifically. The other works are infinitely more "at risk" from this point of view. For the Messina bridge, we are talking about an international project identified as strategic by the European Union which will be carried out with spotlights permanently pointed from any direction and special controls. If there is a project where it is risky and difficult to infiltrate, it is this one."

THE HEAD OF THE TECHNICAL SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE IS PROF. PRESTININZI

Another critical point concerns climate change. “The calculations were made on synoptic winds, i.e. those winds that are predictable based on historical records. Now climate change with data is no longer significant." Speaking like this is an engineer who does not want to be classified according to which extreme events have never been taken into consideration. Also in this case the page Ponte sull'Sretto di Messina contests the Rai 3 journalists. “The wind was one of the biggest focuses in the planning phase. The Messina bridge deck was designed to be stable even in the event of unlikely, if not impossible, extreme events, such as record-breaking storms blowing at 300 km/h – they write on social media -. In the Strait of Messina, even half this speed has never been reached. The secret lies in having divided the deck into distinct boxes with an aerodynamic profile that cancel out the vortices. The wind passes through the Messina Type Deck and even stabilizes it. Suffice it to say that compared to the Akashi the performances are double superior despite the light of 3300 instead of 1991. The Japanese complimented us on the project, before winning the international tender for the executive design and construction of the work with the their multinational IHI, which is part of the consortium". The scientific technical committee appointed by Salvini which will have to supervise the construction of the bridge will be coordinated by prof. Alberto Prestininzi , professor of the University of Rome La Sapienza and critic of the anthropic responsibilities of climate change.

COST – BENEFIT ANALYSIS

Report journalists have doubts about the cost-benefit analysis of the work and its ability to help reduce environmental impact. In support of this thesis they cite the discussion paper " Postponed: first growth, then the Bridge over the Strait ", by Francesco Ramella, analyst and researcher at Bridges Research, a think tank active in the field of transport policies, of whichhe had written also Startmag. “ Numerous authoritative CBAs give fully positive results, such as the recent one by Open Economics or Bocconi University,” writes the Facebook page.

CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESENCE OF THE RAILWAY

Among the various critical points is the presence in the project of the bridge, which Report defines as "the most impressive infrastructural work in the world, together with six carriageways (three for each direction) also of the railway line. The railway itself is the one that causes the most concern among bridge experts because, especially due to strong winds, the bridge may oscillate by several metres. The page Bridge over the Strait of Messina disputes that the Messina bridge is the most impressive infrastructural work in the world. “Obviously this is not the case – they wrote -. A 3.3 km third-generation suspension bridge with above-ground towers is next to nothing compared to other, much larger and more complex mega-projects being built elsewhere on the planet.” The experts contacted by Report (engineers Emanuele Codacci Pisanelli and Mario De Miranda) recall that the ductility and flexibility of the bridge is poorly suited to the needs of the railway tracks. The curators of the Ponte sul Strait page do not agree. “As any specialized structural engineer knows, as the size of the building increases the practicability improves, because the stabilizing weight of the suspension cables increases non-linearly – they write -. In simple terms, circulating vehicles deform a larger and heavier structure less. Compared to a suspension bridge with a span of 1650, the slopes are reduced by 70%. It is no coincidence that when L is not sufficient we must resort to the hybrid scheme with stays. Just as it is no coincidence that no suspension bridges are built under 750-1000 m of light anymore. Suspension bridges begin to have very respectable performance after 1 km of span, while obviously remaining within the maximum limit of 5 km of span, which is critical with current technologies, materials and static schemes". Due to the oscillations "the trains would be forced to walk on transversally inclined tracks". Which is simply impossible.

IMPOSSIBLE TO RESPECT THE SCHEDULE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE BRIDGE OVER THE STRAIT OF MESSINA

Just as it is impossible, according to the authors of the Report, to respect the timetable dictated by the Ministry of Infrastructure. The first deadline is September 30, 2023, by which date an 11-year-old project had to be updated. "It is not true. The planning of the work is already at a very advanced stage, as confirmed by the US company Parsons, one of the most important companies in the world in the field – write the curators of the Bridge on the Strait of Messina page -. It doesn't take much to reach the end of the process, as we already have such a detailed project (over 8,500 technical documents signed by the world's leading experts). Generally, for the other works the definitive design does not reach the state of completeness of the definitive design of the Messina bridge. Even the general variant was already substantially definitive, even if at the time this distinction did not yet exist bureaucratically and therefore did not have this name".

BRIDGE OVER THE STRAIT OF MESSINA: AN OLD PROJECT?

Webuild's Eurolink consortium wrote on its website that it has delivered the documentation updating the final project to the Stretto di Messina company. “What I think is that the 2011 project is a project that is the same as the one that is now being re-presented. They haven't even updated the price lists – says engineer Emanuele Codacci Pisanelli -. I mean, no one knows how much this bridge costs. Now they have made a 500-page update report where they basically say what needs to be done to update the project but there is no update, it doesn't exist." Also on this point came the refutation from those responsible for the Bridge over the Strait of Messina. “The project still represents the world gold standard in terms of long-span suspension bridges with third-generation decks, the most recent – ​​write the people responsible for the page -. In the last ten years there have been no innovations that have made the project obsolete, as any structural engineer specializing in this type of structure knows well. There are no technologies and solutions, at the moment, that can allow the creation of a different project that is better than the one we have. In other words, even if we tore up everything and started from scratch, in 10-20 years we would arrive at a project similar to the one we have."

BRIDGE OVER THE STRAIT OF MESSINA: THE SEISMIC RISK

Carlo Tansi, researcher at the Research Institute for Hydrogeological Protection, warns of the seismic risk existing between Calabria and Sicily. A fault exists between the two regions, identified not only in 2021 by the University of Catania. “It means 10 years after the old Bridge project dating back to 2011 – says Carlo Tansi -. We imagined a connection zone between the African and European plates. These two plates are approaching each other at a geologically important speed, about 7 mm per year." In essence it involves designing a large infrastructure in one of the highest risk areas on the planet. “As any specialized structural engineer knows, long-span suspension bridges are the safest human structures in the event of an earthquake – write those responsible for the Bridge on the Strait of Messina page -. Even devastating. They are those that absorb less seismic input and that react in a more disconnected way during an earthquake. In the case of the Messina bridge, given an earthquake as 1 Hz, the structure reacts at no more than 0.003 Hz. In addition, it has a fundamental period of oscillation of more than 30 seconds. The foundations of the towers are made with jet grouting for maximum stability. Elsewhere there are heavier mega structures on less stable terrain, to be honest. In other words, talking about earthquakes in the context of long-span suspension bridges is already in itself an almost completely meaningless topic." The design would also have taken into consideration the fault generated by the 1908 earthquake. “The design took into account all the faults (144) present in the area. If we know the Strait well it is thanks to the Bridge. If we had not had to plan the work, we would not have conducted studies of this magnitude in the area, involving the most authoritative experts in the world and carrying out risky seabed exploration operations – they add -. Furthermore, the fault of the 1908 earthquake is much further south than the area where the bridge will be built, as can be seen from the map framed by the journalists of the programme".

THE EXECUTIVE PROJECT OF THE BRIDGE OVER THE STRAIT OF MESSINA

Minister Salvini stated that the final project will be approved by March and construction work will begin in summer 2024. “This presupposes that the executive project must also be ready in a few months but this is not technically possible”. Alberto Ziparo, an engineer and urban planner (University of Florence), is so peremptory. It takes no less than two years to arrive at an executive project. “The planning of the work is already at a very advanced stage, as confirmed by the US company Parsons, one of the most important companies in the world in the field – write the animators of the Bridge on the Strait of Messina page -. It doesn't take much to reach the end of the process, as we already have such a detailed project (over 8,500 technical documents signed by the world's leading experts). Generally, for the other works the definitive design does not reach the state of completeness of the definitive design of the Messina bridge. Even the general variant was already substantially definitive, even if at the time this distinction did not yet exist bureaucratically and therefore did not have this name".

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/guerra-report-webuild-sul-ponte-sullo-stretto-di-messina/ on Sun, 03 Dec 2023 07:43:34 +0000.