Taller than the Empire State Building: the world’s longest suspension bridge is to be built in Italy

🇮🇹 Plans have been approved in Italy for the construction of the world’s longest suspension bridge. The bridge across the Strait of Messina, which will link Sicily with mainland Italy, is set to become the world’s longest suspension bridge.

The cost of this large-scale project is estimated at approximately €13.5 billion, and construction is expected to be completed in 2032–2033. The bridge will be 3,666 metres long. It will have six lanes for road traffic and two railway tracks. It is expected that the bridge will be able to handle up to 200 trains a day and around 6,000 cars an hour. The design features two support towers, each 399 metres high — taller than the Empire State Building in New York. Particular attention was paid to safety during the design phase. The Strait of Messina is situated in a seismically active region, near the boundary between the African and Eurasian tectonic plates.

According to the project specifications, the bridge is designed to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 7.1 and wind gusts of up to 216 km/h. There will be a toll to cross the bridge. The estimated cost for a passenger car will be €4–7 per journey. The construction of the bridge is set to significantly transform transport links between Sicily and mainland Italy and become one of the country’s most ambitious infrastructure projects.