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The Strait of Messina Bridge is a long-planned
suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...
across the
Strait of Messina The Strait of Messina ( it, Stretto di Messina, Sicilian: Strittu di Missina) is a narrow strait between the eastern tip of Sicily (Punta del Faro) and the western tip of Calabria ( Punta Pezzo) in Southern Italy. It connects the Tyrrhenian Se ...
, that connects the cities of
Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...
’s Torre Faro and the port city of
Villa San Giovanni Villa San Giovanni is a port city and a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria of Calabria, Italy. In 2010 its population was 13,747 with a decrease of 2.5% until 2016 and in 2020 an increase of 3.7% . It is an important termina ...
in
Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
. While the bridge has been proposed since ancient times, a detailed plan was made in the 1990s for a suspension bridge. The project was cancelled in 2006, under
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Romano Prodi Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Prim ...
. However, on 6 March 2009, as part of a massive new public works programme, Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...
's government announced that construction of the Messina Bridge would indeed go ahead, pledging €1.3 billion as a contribution to the bridge's total cost, estimated at €6.1 billion. The project was cancelled again on 26 February 2013, by Prime Minister
Mario Monti Mario Monti, (born 19 March 1943) is an Italian economist and academic who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a technocratic government in the wake of the Italian debt crisis. Monti served as a European Commiss ...
's government due to budget constraints. The bridge would have been the
longest suspension bridge in the world The world's longest suspension bridges are listed according to the length of their main span (i.e. the length of suspended roadway between the bridge's towers). The length of main span is the most common method of comparing the sizes of suspen ...
, 60% more than the main span of the
1915 Çanakkale Bridge The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge ( tr, 1915 Çanakkale Köprüsü), is a road suspension bridge in the province of Çanakkale in northwestern Turkey. Situated just south of the coastal towns of Lapseki and Gelibolu, the bridge spans the Dardanelles st ...
in Turkey, the world's current longest span. The bridge would have been part of the
Berlin–Palermo railway axis The Berlin–Palermo railway axis (german: Eisenbahnachse Berlin–Palermo, it, Asse ferroviario Berlino-Palermo) is project No. 1 of the Trans-European high-speed rail network ( TEN-R), which involves the creation of a high-speed rail line betw ...
(Line 1) of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T).


Geography

The Strait of Messina is a funnel-shaped arm of sea that connects the
Ionian Sea The Ionian Sea ( el, Ιόνιο Πέλαγος, ''Iónio Pélagos'' ; it, Mar Ionio ; al, Deti Jon ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including C ...
in the south to the
Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...
to the north. The width of the strait varies from a maximum of approximately (between Capo d'Alì in
Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...
and Punta Pellaro in
Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
) to a minimum of approximately between Capo Peloro in Sicily and Torre Cavallo in Calabria. A similar distance separates Pezzo and Ganzirri; at that point, the strait is only deep, while in other places it can reach deep. It is also characterised by strong currents and the region has strong seismicity.


History

The idea of a bridge crossing the strait is an old one. The
Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
considered building a bridge joining
Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
and
Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...
made of boats and barrels.
Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...
considered joining the two sides with a series of bridges. This idea was revived by the
Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...
adventurer
Robert Guiscard Robert Guiscard (; Modern ; – 17 July 1085) was a Norman adventurer remembered for the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily. Robert was born into the Hauteville family in Normandy, went on to become count and then duke of Apulia and Calabri ...
in the 11th century and by
Roger II of Sicily Roger II ( it, Ruggero II; 22 December 1095 – 26 February 1154) was King of Sicily and Africa, son of Roger I of Sicily Roger I ( it, Ruggero I, Arabic: ''رُجار'', ''Rujār''; Maltese: ''Ruġġieru'', – 22 June 1101), nicknamed Rog ...
in the 12th century. In 1876,
Giuseppe Zanardelli Giuseppe Zanardelli (29 October 1826 26 December 1903) was an Italian jurist and political figure. He served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 15 February 1901 to 3 November 1903. An eloquent orator, he was also a Grand Master freemason. Zan ...
was convinced that the strait could be linked by either a bridge or a tunnel. In 1866, public works minister
Stefano Jacini Count Stefano Jacini (Casalbuttano, 20 June 1826 – Milan, 15 March 1891) was an Italian statesman and economist. Born at Casalbuttano, Jacini was descended from an old and wealthy Lombard family. He studied in Switzerland, at Milan, and in ...
gave Alfredo Cottrau, an internationally recognised engineer, the task of drawing up plans for a bridge between Calabria and Sicily. Later, in 1870, Navone proposed building a tunnel based on
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's idea of a tunnel under the
English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
. This tunnel was to start at Contesse and was to pass below Messina and Ganzirri at a depth of 150 m, crossing the Strait to Punta Pezzo and resurfacing at Torre Cavallo. A geologic study of the area of the Strait of Messina was published in 1909 (historical Arch. Sicilian year XXXIV f.1,2) and in 1921, a study of an
undersea tunnel An underwater tunnel is a tunnel which is partly or wholly constructed under the sea or a river. They are often used where building a bridge or operating a ferry link is unviable, or to provide competition or relief for existing bridges or ferry li ...
was released to the Geographic Conference of
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
. A group of
railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...
s studied the possibility of a suspension bridge but nothing came of it. The idea was revived in 1953 by master bridge builder David B. Steinman with a plan to build a bridge that crossed the Strait using two towers sunk in deep waters. The proposed span would have represented a world record, eclipsing the then-longest centre span of the
Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...
and beating the
Mackinac Straits Bridge The Mackinac Bridge ( ) is a suspension bridge spanning the Straits of Mackinac, connecting the Upper and Lower peninsulas of the U.S. state of Michigan. Opened in 1957, the bridge (familiarly known as "Big Mac" and "Mighty Mac") is the worl ...
(then in planning) with a total length of . The proposed structure would have cleared the sea by to allow shipping passage, and to have had two decks, the lower to carry two rail lines, and above, a road deck wide. The main cables would have been in diameter. The bridge would have required 12,000 workers and cost hundreds of billions of lire.


Early planning stages

* In the 1960s, a wide variety of proposals were advanced, including everything from submerged tubes to floating struts, pontoons and a revolving central section of the bridge. None turned out to be realistic. * In 1969, an international design competition was arranged. * In the 1970s, feasibility studies were undertaken by the State Railways leading to the creation of a private company with responsibility for planning the crossing of the Strait. * In the 1980s, the Messina Strait Company (
Stretto di Messina S.p.A. The Stretto di Messina S.p.A. company was established in 1981 in implementation of law no. 1158/1971 of the Italian government to design, build and manage the Strait of Messina Bridge. History The ''Stretto di Messina S.p.A.'' it was put into l ...
) was set up with support from the State Railways, the regions and
IRI IRI or I.R.I. refers to: Businesses and organizations * Iringa Airport, an airport in Tanzania serving Iringa and the surrounding Iringa Region by IATA airport code * India Rejuvenation Initiative, an Indian anti-corruption organization forme ...
. It concluded that it would be feasible to build a suspension bridge. * Detailed plans followed in the 1990s with final approval from the High Council of Public Works (Consiglio Superiore dei Lavori Pubblici).


Development of detailed plans

The 2006 plan called for a single-span suspension bridge with a central
span Span may refer to: Science, technology and engineering * Span (unit), the width of a human hand * Span (engineering), a section between two intermediate supports * Wingspan, the distance between the wingtips of a bird or aircraft * Sorbitan ester ...
of . This would have made the span more than 60% longer than the
1915 Çanakkale Bridge The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge ( tr, 1915 Çanakkale Köprüsü), is a road suspension bridge in the province of Çanakkale in northwestern Turkey. Situated just south of the coastal towns of Lapseki and Gelibolu, the bridge spans the Dardanelles st ...
in Turkey—the longest suspension bridge in the world at .Sicily to get longest bridge from TimesOnline
Retrieved 8 March 2009.
Plans called for four
traffic Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic ...
lane In road transport, a lane is part of a roadway that is designated to be used by a single line of vehicles to control and guide drivers and reduce traffic conflicts. Most public roads (highways) have at least two lanes, one for traffic in each ...
s (two driving lanes and one emergency lane in each direction), two
railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
tracks and two
pedestrian A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In modern times, the term usually refers to someone walking on a road or pavement, but this was not the case historically. The meaning of pedestrian is displayed with ...
lanes. In order to provide a minimum vertical clearance for
navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...
of , the height of the two
tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
s was to be . This would have been taller than the
Millau Viaduct The Millau Viaduct (french: Viaduc de Millau, ) is a multispan cable-stayed bridge completed in 2004 across the gorge valley of the Tarn near (west of) Millau in the Aveyron department in the Occitanie Region, in Southern France. The design t ...
in France (currently the tallest bridge in the world at ). The bridge's suspension system would have relied on two pairs of steel cables, each with a diameter of and a total length, between the anchor blocks, of .Italy revives Messina Straits bridge from Construction Europe.
Retrieved 9 March 2009.
The design included of road links and of railway links to the bridge. On the mainland, the bridge was to connect to the new stretch of the
Salerno Salerno (, , ; nap, label= Salernitano, Saliernë, ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' in Campania (southwestern Italy) and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after ...
-
Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria ( scn, label= Southern Calabrian, Riggiu; el, label= Calabrian Greek, Ρήγι, Rìji), usually referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated popul ...
motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
(A3) and to the planned
Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
-Reggio Calabria
High-Speed railway High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, line ...
line; on the Sicilian side, to the Messina-Catania (A18) and Messina-Palermo (A20) motorways as well as the new Messina
railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
(to be built by
Rete Ferroviaria Italiana Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) is the Italian railway infrastructure manager, subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), a state-owned holding company. RFI is the owner of Italy's railway network, it provides signalling, maintenance and other ser ...
). The bridge was planned to connect
Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria ( scn, label= Southern Calabrian, Riggiu; el, label= Calabrian Greek, Ρήγι, Rìji), usually referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated popul ...
to
Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...
, the two cities that face each other on either side of the strait, in order to form a single city. This ambitious urban project was called ''Area Metropolitana integrata dello Stretto (Integrated Metropolitan Area of the Strait)'' or simply ''Città dello Stretto (City of the Strait)''. Among the controversies surrounding the building of the bridge was strong opposition to the formation of the new city by various Sicilian nationalist groups.


Abandonment

On 12 October 2006, the
Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitiona ...
voted 272 to 232 in favour of abandoning the plan due to the bridge's "doubtful usefulness and viability", as well as the inability of the already burdened Italian treasury to bear its share of the cost. Additionally, transport minister Alessandro Bianchi pointed out that the road and rail links leading to the location of the proposed bridge are not capable of supporting enough traffic to make the bridge profitable. Other reasons for abandoning the plan were earthquake risk and fears that the bridge would enrich the networks of Italy's organised crime organisations such as
Cosa Nostra The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily a ...
and
'Ndrangheta The 'Ndrangheta (, , ) is a prominent Italian Mafia-type organized crime syndicate and secret society, criminal society based in the peninsular and mountainous region of Calabria and dating back to the late 18th century. It is considered one of ...
.


Contracting parties

A construction
consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...
led by
Impregilo Webuild SpA (formerly Salini Impregilo SpA) () is an Italian industrial group specialised in the construction and civil engineering business headquartered in Milan. The company was formally founded in 2014 as the result of the merger by incorporat ...
was chosen in 2005, with actual
construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...
set to begin in the second half of 2006. The bridge was designed by Danish architects at
Dissing+Weitling Dissing may refer to: * Diss (music), song primarily intended to disrespect people * Dissing+Weitling, architecture and design practice in Copenhagen, Denmark *Heino Dissing (1912–1990), Danish cyclist *Henry Dissing (1931–2009), Danish mycolo ...
in close collaboration with the Danish engineering firm
COWI COWI A/S is an international consulting group, specialising in engineering, environmental science and economics, with headquarters in Lyngby, Denmark. It has been involved in more than 50,000 projects in 175 countries and has approximately 7,300 em ...
. On 27 March 2006, Impregilo and
Stretto di Messina The Stretto di Messina S.p.A. company was established in 1981 in implementation of law no. 1158/1971 of the Italian government to design, build and manage the Strait of Messina Bridge. History The ''Stretto di Messina S.p.A.'' it was put into l ...
announced that they had signed a contract assigning final project planning to a General Contractor. Impregilo S.p.A., the lead partner had a 45% share. Other participants were Spain’s
Sacyr SACYR S.A. () is a Spanish infrastructure operator and developer company based in Madrid. History The company was founded in 1986 as Sociedad Anónima Caminos y Regadíos and was renamed Sacyr in 1991. The company received their first concession ...
(18.70%), the Italian companies Società Italiana per Condotte D’Acqua S.p.A. (15%) and Cooperativa Muratori & Cementisti-C.M.C. of Ravenna (13%),
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
’s
IHI Corporation , formerly known as , is a Japanese engineering corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan that produces and offers ships, space launch vehicles, aircraft engines, marine diesel engines, gas turbines, gas engines, railway systems, turbochargers ...
(6.30%), and Consorzio Stabile A.C.I. S.c.p.a (2%). The General Contractor would also be assisted by the Danish and Canadian companies
COWI A/S COWI A/S is an international consulting group, specialising in engineering, environmental science and economics, with headquarters in Lyngby, Denmark. It has been involved in more than 50,000 projects in 175 countries and has approximately 7,300 e ...
, Sund & Baelt A/S and Buckland & Taylor Ltd., who would handle project engineering. Completion was projected to take six years, at a projected cost of €3.9 billion. The first task of the General Contractor was to draw up the final project.


Later initiatives


Criticisms

Supporters see the bridge as a huge job-creation scheme and a boost for tourism. However, opponents question the priority of the bridge, claiming that if the government concentrated instead on making Sicily's roads more efficient, drivers would be able to reach the coast more quickly at a fraction of the bridge's cost. Others believe that the bridge is quite unnecessary, since the local economy is already providing for the conversion of the local former
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
airport in Comiso into a commercial terminal to export vegetables to
Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...
. Alternatively, a much cheaper revamping of the current structures is claimed to be sufficient (for instance, the
ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...
lines on the
Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
side are now accessible by trucks only by driving through very narrow streets, which are a tight bottleneck for transport). Another argument against the bridge is the poor state of the transport infrastructure in Sicily, particularly the railroad and the A20 autostrada linking
Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...
to
Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
, and the poor state of the A2 autostrada on the mainland linking
Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria ( scn, label= Southern Calabrian, Riggiu; el, label= Calabrian Greek, Ρήγι, Rìji), usually referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated popul ...
to
Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
. The greatest structural design problem of the bridge itself is the aerodynamic stability of its deck under wind and seismic activity.


See also

*
List of longest suspension bridge spans The world's longest suspension bridges are listed according to the length of their main span (i.e. the length of suspended roadway between the bridge's towers). The length of main span is the most common method of comparing the sizes of suspen ...
* Helsinki-Valletta Corridor *
Trans-European Transport Network The Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) is a planned network of roads, railways, airports and water infrastructure in the European Union. The TEN-T network is part of a wider system of Trans-European Networks (TENs), including a telecommunic ...
* Strait of Sicily Tunnel *
Intercontinental and transoceanic fixed links A fixed link or fixed crossing is a persistent, unbroken road or rail connection across water that uses some combination of bridges, tunnels, and causeways and does not involve intermittent connections such as drawbridges or ferries. A bridge–tu ...
*
Akashi Kaikyō Bridge The is a suspension bridge which links the city of Kobe on the Japanese island of Honshu to Iwaya on Awaji Island. It is part of the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway, and crosses the busy and turbulent Akashi Strait (''Akashi Kaikyō'' in Japanese ...


References


Further reading

* Fabio Spadi (2001
"The Bridge on the Strait of Messina: 'Lowering' the Right of Innocent Passage?"
''International and Comparative Law Quarterly'' 50: 411 ff. * "From Rome to Sicily: Plane or Train?
Expert Travel Advice, The New York Times, Feb. 7, 2008
The New York Times. * Fabio Brancaleoni, Giorgio Diana, Ezio Faccioli, Giuseppe Fiammenghi, Ian Firth, Niels J. Gimsing, Michele Jamiolkowski, Peter Sluszka, Giovanni Solari, Gianluca Valensise, Enzo Vullo: ''The Messina Strait Bridge - A Challenge and a Dream'', Taylor and Francis, 2009, 300p,


External links


Bridge design site (English version)
- Currently under maintenance
Ponte di Messina
- A complete and detailed ''private site''
Messina BridgeStrait of Messina with the Messina Bridge
*
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
br>"Italy revives Sicily bridge plan"
*
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
br>"Sicily bridge constructor named"


of
RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...
broadcast ''Report'' about the bridge. {{DEFAULTSORT:Strait of Messina Bridge Proposed bridges in Europe Buildings and structures in Messina Transport in Calabria Transport in Sicily Cross-sea bridges in Europe