Italy approves plans for world’s longest suspension bridge

TDT | Italy

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approves plans for world’s longest suspension bridge Rome, Italy Italy’s government yesterday approved a controversial 13.5-billion-euro ($15.6-billion) project to build what would be the world’s longest suspension bridge connecting the island of Sicily to the mainland. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s coalition hailed the state-funded project as an economic boost for the impoverished south of Italy -- only for critics to warn that it risks turning into a financial black hole.

Italian politicians have for decades debated a bridge over the Strait of Messina, a narrow strip of water between the island of Sicily and the region of Calabria, at the toe of Italy’s boot.

But ministers say Wednesday’s approval by a government committee, CIPESS, is the furthest the project has ever got. Advocates say the bridge, due for completion by 2032, is at the cutting edge of engineering, able to withstand high winds and earthquakes in a region that lies across two tectonic plates.