Webuild, the Italian giant of large works and engineering, presented pro bono a project to rebuild the Baltimore Bridge in Maryland (United States) which collapsed in March following the collision of a cargo ship with one of the support pillars. The collapse caused the loss of numerous lives and severed a vital link between the city's port and the Atlantic Ocean.
The Group led by Pietro Salini, through his controllata Blazer Lane, offered the competent authorities a proposal for the design and planning of the reconstruction of the bridge, as a sign of solidarity and proximity to the USA, a country in which Webuild has a presence historical presence. The proposal preliminary was developed in collaboration with thearchitect Carlo Ratti, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and French structural engineer Michel Virlogeux. “As Webuild, with our American subsidiary Lane, we are ready to make ourselves available for a rapid restoration of this strategic bridge for the mobility of the area” commented the Webuild CEO Pietro Salini in a letter sent to the United States Secretary of Transportation, the Governor of Maryland, and the Director of the Maryland Port Administration. “We will participate in the Virtual Industry Forum organized on May 7 by the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) for the reconstruction of the bridge” added Salini, “and we are ready to provide, in this first phase, every possible help in one pro bono spirit. The concept design of the bridge on which we have worked incessantly over the last month could represent an important contribution in view of the design and reconstruction or new construction of the work".
In 120 years Webuild has built 1000 km of bridges
The Webuild Group, in 120 years of history, has achieved 1.020 kilometers of bridges and viaducts. Arched, cable-stayed, girder or suspended bridges, present in over 300 major road, motorway and railway works, examples of how construction techniques have evolved over the last century. “We are aware of the importance of this infrastructure from a logistical and commercial point of view, with over 1,4 million people living in the area, plus tens of thousands of commuters directly penalized by the collapse of the bridge” says Salini. “We have already made our expertise available on the occasion of the tragic collapse of Genoa Bridge in Italy in 2018 (built at cost with no profit for the group), which caused the death of 43 people and paralysis of travel in the city and the port, among the most important in Italy". The Genoa San Giorgio Bridge was completed in 2020 after just over a year of work following the collapse of the Morandi Bridge.
Last year the Bridge over the Danube in Braila built in Romania, the second longest suspension bridge in continental Europe, with a central span of 1.120 metres. The Group is also leader of the consortium that will build the Bridge over the Strait di Messinaonce approved. The project involves the construction of the longest suspension bridge in the world, with a total length of 3.660 meters and a suspended span of 3.300 metres.
With the new bridge, Baltimore will remain a strategic international airport
The Webuild proposal for Baltimore includes a cable-stayed bridge, which will be designed to ensure maximum navigation safety, even for the largest ships. For example, a navigable freeway is assumed, the space that a ship can occupy to pass under the bridge, of 213 feet (65 metres), therefore much higher than that of the collapsed bridge, but also the expansion of the span of the bridge, which will have a clear span of approximately 2.300 feet (700 meters), with the main pylons positioned in much shallower water and away from the shipping channel. All this will allow the Port of Baltimore to remain an important one international port in the years to come. A wider roadway is also planned, with the increase of one lane in each direction and the widening of the emergency lanes, in response to the increased traffic levels on the bridge. “The choice of one cable-stayed solution it allows the pylons to be positioned at a safe distance, well away from the navigation channel used by large ships and thus avoiding the risk of a tragedy like that of March 26th happening again. This approach provides an optimal solution to reconnect the city in both social and economic terms: what America's infrastructure should strive to do in the 21st century,” Ratti says.
