The milestone took place just 10 months after work on the new bridge鈥檚 foundations began.
The last span of the bridge鈥檚 deck was installed yesterday in the presence of Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte and other ministers and officials. Also present were Salini Impregilo chief executive Pietro Salini, Fincantieri chief executive Giuseppe Bono and all the managers, technicians and workers who made the project鈥檚 development possible.
鈥淭oday, we celebrate an important day,鈥� said Salini. He said that he remembered 14 August 2018, when everyone looked on in shock, feeling powerless at the sight of the collapse, which killed 43 people. He described it as being 鈥渁n unimaginable and unacceptable tragedy for a country with our knowledge and our ability to build infrastructure still today with our hands鈥�.
The PerGenova joint venture was awarded the contract in December 2018, just a few months after the fatal collapse that killed 43 people.
鈥淣ow that we are in this pandemic that has denied us the pleasure of embracing each other, I would like to shake in a virtual way all the hands of the men and women who were able to build this bridge, because you are the extraordinary people who have closed a deep wound held by this city.鈥�
The final span, which is 44m in length and weighs 900 tonnes, was raised between Piers 11 and 12, bringing to an end to the fast-track project. The span was raised at 5m per hour by strand jacks installed atop the piers, completing the deck鈥檚 total length of 1,067m. Work on the first foundation began on 24th June 2019.
鈥淲e are fully aware that the Covid-19 pandemic has forced us to rethink completely how we behave. It is an emergency that has unequivocally left its mark, splitting life in two, between the one that we had before it and the one that we will have after it. In Genoa, we have shown that it is possible to work in safety thanks to the measures taken and the commitment of hundreds of people today on site,鈥� said Salini.
Lights in the colours of the Italian flag are lighting up the full length of the bridge and all 18 piers every evening until 1st May, in tribute to the public institutions and all people of Genoa, with a solemn thought to the families of the victims of the collapsed Morandi Bridge.
A timelapse has been produced of PerGenova's fast-tracked replacement of the collapsed viaduct.
The relaunch of Italy鈥檚 infrastructure sector was mentioned during the event. Salini Impregilo plans to contribute to the relaunch through Progetto Italia, an operation to consolidate companies in the country into a larger group, to be called Webuild. Pietro Salini said: 鈥淔rom this city a message of hope and future goes out, a great plan for the construction and maintenance of infrastructure in our country that would create millions of jobs. Let鈥檚 begin immediately with a new Marshall plan, using the success of this bridge as a model for the relaunch of Italy.鈥�
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