The fragile giant undermined by time. This was the Morandi bridge, designed by the architect of the same name and built in four years from 1963 to 1967, the year in which it was also inaugurated. A work more than half a century old, on which in fact Autostrade per l'Italia, the concessionary company of his management, had launched a 20 million tender for the restructuring last April. Too late. The Polcevera viaduct (its official name, from the name of the stream it crossed), is collapsed on Tuesday 14 August of his own accord: in 2009 it had been estimated between 8 and 12 months to demolish it, but yesterday it did it all by itself, causing dozens of victims and leaving the city in panic and despair. And also casting shadows on its future, on the viability and connections of a hub that was and is crucial for all of Liguria and Northern Italy, as a double axis to and from Milan and to and from all of Ponente and France. But it was a fundamental work for the Genoese themselves and for city traffic: the area it crossed, a former industrial area where the Ansaldo factory is also located, is densely populated, Ikea is located there and it is not far from the airport and the cruise terminal of the Ligurian capital.
The first to express perplexity about the work, whose innovative impetus he also admired, was twenty-five years ago Claudio Burlando, then Mayor of Genoa and then Minister of Transport and President of the Region. He said it would be a problem to maintain a bridge with an iron core hidden in concrete and subject to corrosion from the salty air. Then many other negative prophecies passed on the viaduct. Antonio Di Pietro, as Minister of Infrastructures, told Repubblica: "Morandi is not eternal". The telenovela della Gronda was already on the air, the project for a new motorway link to free the city from heavy traffic, lighten or replace the Morandi and improve the connection with western Liguria. Exasperated by the vetoes of environmentalists, in 2012 the leader of the industrialists Giovanni Calvini told Secolo XIX: "When in ten years the Morandi Bridge collapses, and we all have to stand in traffic queues for hours, we will remember the name of those who said "no "at the Gronda".
Called into question, the municipal councilor of M5S Paolo Putti, who will later break with Grillo, defended himself angrily: "He told us Autostrade that for another 100 years the bridge can stand".
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Autostrade per l'Italia which, while still looking for the missing, has already ended up in the crosshairs of the Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli, who is today in Genoa together with Deputy Prime Ministers Di Maio and Salvini: "We pay out the most expensive tolls to the companies that manage our motorways of Europe while they pay concessions at shameful prices. They collect billions, paying a few million in taxes and they don't even do the maintenance that would be necessary for bridges and roads. The top management of Autostrade per l'Italia must first of all resign. And given that there have been serious defaults, I announce right now that we have activated all the procedures for the possible revocation of the concessions, and for imposing fines of up to 150 million euros. If they are not able to manage our highways, the state will".
