The incredible £11.7bn plan for world's longest suspension bridge gets green light

Italy has given the green light for the creation of the world's longest suspension bridge in a major boost for the south of the country. The project, which has been discussed for decades, promises to provide a direct link from the southern Italian island of Sicily to the Calabria region on the mainland.

The Strait of Messina Bridge has been delayed on a number of occasions, but is seen as a key step in improving the economic fortunes of the south. Sicily, which is one of the poorest regions in the Mediterranean nation, suffers from the lack of road connections to the far more prosperous north. The project is key priority for Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government, and is estimated to cost €13.5billion (£11.7bn), as per Sky News.

The Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning and Sustainable Development (CIPESS) gave the project final approval, the Italian government says.

The project has been awarded to a consortium led by Italian infrastructure group Webuild. They initially won the bid to build the bridge in 2006, before the plan was cancelled.

WeBuild were also behind the current longest suspension bridge, the Canakkale Bridge in Turkey, which opened in 2022.

The structure was built using an engineering design similar to the one devised for the Messina bridge, including a wing profile and a deck shape that resembles a fighter jet fuselage with openings to allow wind to pass through the structure, Webuild says.

The Strait of Messina Bridge is expected to measure nearly 3.7 kilometres (2.2 miles), with the suspended span reaching 3.3 kilometres (over two miles), surpassing Canakkale Bridge by 1,277 meters (4,189 feet).

Italian Deputy PM and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini told a news conference in Rome that, with three car lanes in each direction flanked by a double-track railway, the bridge would have the capacity to carry 6,000 cars an hour and 200 trains a day.

This will reduce the time to cross the strait by ferry from up to 100 minutes to 10 minutes by car, while trains will save 2/12 hours in transit time, Salvini said.

Preliminary work could begin between late September and early October, once Italy's court of audit signs off, with construction expected to start next year. Despite bureaucratic delays, the bridge is expected to be completed between 2032-2033, Salvini said.

Meloni said that the bridge "will be an engineering symbol of global significance.''

Environmental groups have lodged complaints with the EU, citing concerns that the project will impact migratory birds, noting that environmental studies had not demonstrated that the project is a public imperative and that any environmental damage would be offset.

The original government decree reactivating the bridge project included language giving the Interior Ministry control over anti-mafia measures. But Italy's president insisted that the project remain subject to anti-mafia legislation that applies to all large-scale infrastructure projects in the country, out of concerns that the ad-hoc arrangement would weaken controls.

Salvini pledged that keeping organised crime out of the project was top priority, saying it would adhere to the same protocols used for the Expo 2015 World's Fair and the upcoming Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. "We need to pay attention so that the entire supply chain is impermeable to bad actors,'' he said.

Addressing concerns about building the bridge over the Messina fault, which triggered a deadly quake in 1908, Webuild has emphasised that suspension bridges are structurally less vulnerable to seismic forces. The firm noted that such bridges have previously been built in seismically active areas, including Japan. Turkey and California.

Webuild chief executive Pietro Salini said in a statement that the Strait of Messina Bridge "will be transformative for the whole country."