Ponte Morandi – which is located on the A10 motorway and connects Genoa to its western city, Savona and Ventimiglia – collapsed this morning due to the bad weather that has recently hit Liguria. The viaduct, suspended several tens of meters above a densely populated area of the Ligurian capital, near the Sampierdarena district, suffered structural failure and fell on the town below. At that moment, dozens of cars were passing by, according to many witnesses, which crashed. There is also apprehension for the residents of the area, given that the collapsed stretch, a couple of hundred meters long, has overwhelmed several houses, in particular in via Walter Fillak: dozens of injured have already been reported and a dozen confirmed victims, including even a child.
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The first photos and videos of the event appeared on Facebook while dozens of reports were sent out: several fire brigade teams are present on site and are already operating, because there would be so many people still under the rubble. The dog teams and Usar, the search and rescue experts among the urban rubble, have also been activated.
Autostrade reports on its website that the section between the A10 Milan-Genoa junction and Genoa Airport in both directions on the A7 Genoa-Savona has been closed. On the A10 Genova-Savona between the junction for the A7 Genova-Serravalle and Genova Aereoporto, the section had to be closed in both directions. Inside the closed stretch traffic is blocked with queues. Furthermore, for this reason queues have formed on the A12 Genoa-Rosignano Marittimo towards Genoa and between East Genoa and the crossroads for the A7 towards Genoa and on the A7 between Bolzaneto and the crossroads for the A10 Genoa-Savona. All emergency services are on site.
The Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Danilo Toninelli also immediately arrived on the spot. “I'm following up with the utmost apprehension what happened in Genoa and which is looming as a huge tragedy. We are in close contact with Autostrade and are going to the site with Deputy Minister Rixi. My total closeness to the city in these hours ”, writes Toninelli on Twitter. The Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, is in contact with the Minister of Transport and with the head of Civil Protection and is constantly updated on the evolution of the situation which he follows with the utmost attention. This is what we learn from sources in Palazzo Chigi.
The tragedy also had an impact on Piazza Affari, where Atlantia's stock lost more than 5% after a volatility auction. The collapsed infrastructure belongs in fact to the section of the A10 managed by Autostrade per l'Italia, a subsidiary of Atlantia.
SECURITY UPDATE TRAINING
In recent months, Autostrade per l'Italia had launched a call for tenders for "structural retrofitting of the Polcevera viaduct", also known as the Morandi bridge, which today suffered a disastrous collapse. According to what was reconstructed by Radiocor, the tender is dated 28 April 2018 and provided for a restricted procedure with 11 June as the deadline for the submission of offers. This was a pre-qualification procedure, following which Autostrade per l'Italia had invited various companies in recent weeks to participate in the actual tender, which was to end at the end of September.
The contract amount was approximately 20,15 million euros, of which 14,7 million "for partial and partial work" and 5,4 million for safety charges not subject to reductions with a term of execution 784 days after the award of the contract.
In detail, the interventions to adapt the viaduct, defined as a "strategic work" involved "the reinforcement of the stays of pier number 9 and 10 since those of pier 11 were already subject to reinforcement in the 90s", reads the announcement.
The piles, technically speaking, are the vertical load-bearing structures that support the arches of a bridge. The intervention had to consist in the "arrangement of new external cables that go from the crosspiece of the deck to the top of the antennas" of the bridge.
The three main spans of the bridge necessary to cross the Polcevera stream, the railway park and some important city arterial roads – it is further explained in the announcement – were built with the balanced system, whose deck is supported by prestressed reinforced concrete tie rods, called precisely stays, which start from the top of the antennas.
The structural adjustment intervention (retrofitting) involved precisely the balanced system area and in particular stays 9 and 10. Today's collapse also involved pier number 9. On the Polcevera viaduct, Autostrade per l'Italia specified in a notes "consolidation work was underway on the viaduct slab and, as planned, a bridge crane had been installed to allow maintenance activities to be carried out".
Tragedy that of the Morandi bridge in Genoa which should make those who oppose rail freight traffic reflect