Heavy, very heavy the responsibilities of Autostrade. This is the summary of the inspection report by the Ministry of Transport on the collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa.
The words contained in the MIT dossier are very harsh. Autostrade would not have taken the right measures to prevent what happened, indeed the actions taken "were inappropriate and insufficient considering the seriousness of the problem". Autostrade per l'Italia, continues the Commission, “was able to qualitatively grasp the evolution over time of the deterioration problems, but with enormous uncertainties. This evolution, which has been going on for years now, has returned a worrying, and quantitatively unknown picture, as regards structural safety with respect to collapse". And again: the concessionaire would have already been aware of the risks and would have underestimated the "unequivocal alarm signal", "minimized or concealed" the seriousness of the situation from the ministry's technicians and "has not taken any precautionary measures to protect users" .
According to the inspectors appointed by Minister Toninelli, the safety assessment of the Polcevera viaduct requested of Autostrade "does not exist, not having been carried out". From this evaluation "if carried out correctly, the (best possible) estimate of the structural safety with respect to the risk of collapse would have arisen". Furthermore, the structural safety control procedures documented by Aspi, based on inspections, "was in the past, and still is, unsuitable for preventing collapses and completely insufficient for estimating safety against collapse".
News also on the alleged causes of the collapse. Based on the findings conducted by the commission, the cause of the failure would not have been the stays, as previously hypothesized, but the breakage of structural elements: "It is considered more likely that the primary cause" of the collapse of the Morandi bridge "should not be sought so much in the failure of one or more stays, as well as that of one of the remaining structural elements (edge beams of the buffer decks or box decks) whose survival was conditioned by the advanced state of corrosion present in the structural elements”.
At the same time, the first hearing of the probative incident relating to the investigation into the collapse of the Morandi bridge ended at the Palace of Justice in Genoa.
Many families of the victims, lawyers and some of the 20 suspects were present in the bunker room. The judge for preliminary investigations Angela Nutini has appointed the already appointed experts who will have the task of analyzing and describing the different parts of the bridge still standing, the remains of the viaduct not removed and cataloging the material potentially useful for the purpose of investigation. The next hearing has been set for December 17 when the experts - who have asked for 60 days to file the report - will bring their conclusions to the courtroom.
"Except for surprises or possible extensions, currently difficult to hypothesize, the demolition of the bridge will not begin before December" explains the lawyer Andrea Martini, who defends some families of the victims.
