The collapse of the bridge in Genoa claimed 43 human lives in August 2018

Genoa – Selected data about the collapse of part of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa in 2018 and about the new bridge that will be ceremonially opened today:

- The worst disaster of its kind in modern European history occurred on Tuesday, August 14, 2018, around half past eleven in the morning, when, during a storm and rain, a two-hundred-meter section of the Genoa Morandi Bridge collapsed into a 45-meter deep ravine, hanging from the westernmost of three tall pillars. Along with the roadway, more than three dozen cars, both personal and commercial, fell onto warehouses and a railway track below into the swollen Polcevera River. A total of 43 people died in the collapse, while 16 others survived with varying degrees of injury.

- Among the survivors on the bridge was Czech truck driver Martin Kučera, who suffered fractures of five ribs and had bruised lungs. The Czech, who returned to work three months after the tragedy, survived because he was wearing a seatbelt and driving the latest model of a truck with reinforced cabin posts. Kučera was also saved by his cargo – heavy paper that pulled the trailer off the bridge, causing it to fall with the rear of the trailer first, which also detached before impact.

- The collapse of the bridge, which was located on a busy highway connecting the Italian inland with both the Italian and French Riviera, caused a huge wave of outrage in Italy directed at government authorities as well as the highway operator, Autostrade per l'Italia (ASPI). Approximately half of the victims – among whom were 29 Italians as well as citizens from France (four victims), Chile (three), Albania (two), and one each from Jamaica, Colombia, Moldova, Peru, and Romania – were given a state funeral, while the rest of the families refused.

- Some survivors refused to attend the official ceremony because they believed the state was to blame for the tragedy. According to an investigative report by the Italian Ministry of Transportation, published at the end of September 2018, Autostrade per l'Italia (ASPI), which is part of the Atlantia holding of the Benetton family, did not take adequate measures to prevent the bridge's collapse, even though the risk had existed in previous years. The company rejected the criticism and labeled the conclusions of the ministry's expert committee as "a hypothesis that needs to be verified."

- ASPI and its subsidiary SPEA, which oversees the safety of structures, are now suspected of falsifying documents regarding safety inspections on bridges both before and after the disaster. According to reports in the Italian press, they had been aware of the risk of the structure's collapse since 2014. Three representatives of the company thus ended up in custody, and dozens of other managers are under investigation. In December of last year, police conducted a large-scale raid on the offices of the mentioned companies.

- The suspended concrete bridge was built in Genoa between 1963 and 1967 and was ceremonially opened on September 4, 1967, in the presence of then-Italian President Giuseppe Saragat. The bridge was 1,102 meters long (for comparison, the Nusle Bridge in Prague measures 485 meters), with the roadway 45 meters above the ground (the Nusle Bridge is only about three meters lower). It was supported by three reinforced concrete pillars 90 meters high with a maximum span of 210 meters, while on the eastern side it was supported by a series of shorter pillars.

- The structure was designed by Italian civil engineer Riccardo Morandi (1902-1989). His suspended bridges are characterized by a very small number of supports, which are often made of prestressed concrete. Morandi's designs are visually interesting according to experts, but their construction is also more expensive. The bridge – officially named Viadotto Polcevera, or Polcevera Viaduct after the river flowing under it – underwent partial reconstruction three years before its collapse. However, Morandi had already warned ten years after the bridge's completion that it would need regular maintenance due to the effects of salty coastal air and exhaust from vehicles.

- During the year 2018, the demolition of the remains of the more than one-kilometer-long bridge gradually began, culminating on June 28, 2019, with the detonation of the two remaining pillars.

- Shortly before, the construction of a new bridge began, designed by the famous architect Renzo Piano, a native of Genoa who gained fame as a co-author of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, among other projects. The steel bridge, with 18 pillars shaped like a ship's hull and measuring 1,067 meters long, was designed free of charge.

- The construction of the new bridge was ceremonially completed in April this year amid the ringing of bells and ship sirens, with the participation of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, with the raising of the last part of the load-bearing structure onto the load-bearing pillars. Construction work continued despite restrictions imposed by the government due to the coronavirus, which effectively halted economic life in the country. The cost of building the new bridge reached 200 million euros (5.2 billion crowns).

- Last month, it was announced that Italy would regain control of nearly half of the highway network in the country. This will happen after the influential Italian Benetton family announced that they would relinquish their stake in ASPI. Under an agreement between the state and the Benetton clan, the Italian state lending bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), along with other investors, will take over a 51 percent stake in Atlantia in ASPI, which currently manages about 3,000 out of approximately 6,500 kilometers of the Italian highway network.