ROME: Italy’s government is to give final approval Wednesday to a 13.5-billion-euro ($15.6-billion) project to build the world’s longest suspension bridge, connecting the island of Sicily to the mainland.
Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini said a ministerial committee will back the state-funded bridge over the Strait of Messina, marking a “page in history” following decades of planning.
The bridge has been designed with two railway lines in the middle and three lanes of traffic on either side, with a suspended span of 3.3 kilometers (2.05 miles) — a world record — stretching between two 400-meter (1,300 feet) high towers.
Due for completion by 2032, the government says the bridge is at the cutting edge of engineering, able to withstand high winds and earthquakes in a region that lies across two tectonic plates.
Ministers hope it will bring economic growth and jobs to two impoverished Italian regions — Sicily and Calabria on the mainland — with Salvini promising the project will create tens of thousands of jobs.
