Sicily: A18 motorway reopens in presence of President Schifani
A18, reopens section affected by the Letojanni landslide. Schifani: «Safer motorway with less inconvenience»
Sicily: A18 motorway reopens in the presence of President Schifani.
«After years of waiting, we are returning to users a stretch of motorway of fundamental importance which is among those with the most intense traffic on the regional road system, especially in this summer period. Let's bring traffic back to normal, avoiding slowdowns and inconveniences. A work that continues, however, on the entire Messina-Catania highway, with a series of interventions that concern the overall redevelopment to raise the standards of quality and safety".
This was stated by the President of the Region Renato Schifani, commenting on the reopening to traffic this morning of a section of thehighway A18 in the municipal area of Letojanni, affected by a landslide in 2015 which caused material to detach from the hill above, completely invading the roadway.
The works were carried out by the Structure against hydrogeological instability, of which the commissioner is the president of the Region himself, for an amount of 16,3 million euro of the FSC 2014/2020. The affected area was made safe through the construction of an artificial tunnel, which also has the function of stabilizing the foot of the slope. Furthermore, the intervention involved the positioning of a high-resistance three-dimensional network anchored to the stable rock.
The reopening took place in the presence of the regional councilor for infrastructure Alessandro Aricò, of the director of the commissioner structure Salvatore Lizzio and the general director of Cas Franco Fazio.
"Today - comments Aricò – we are witnessing the completion of the works that guarantee the necessary safety conditions in one of the nerve centres of the regional road system, interrupted for several years. Thanks to the funds of the Pact for the Development of the Sicilian Region, we have also been able, through the Consortium for Sicilian motorways, to start a series of safety interventions on the A18 which, in recent days, after many years of inconvenience, allow traffic to return to normal».
The other works carried out by the Cas, entity subject to the control of the Sicilian Region, are: the paving of the entire section between Messina and Giarre; the structural safety of the Galleria Giardini; the drafting of the project for the safety works and adaptation of the Taormina, Giardini and Sant'Antonio tunnels, whose interventions started on March 29th are currently being completed.
Furthermore, the following works are underway on the same section: redevelopment of all safety barriers and opening gates on the section between Giarre and San Gregorio; construction of variable message sign systems, video surveillance and speed control information system.
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