The bridge
The Bridge will link Sicily and Calabria at the point where the two coastlines are closest, with a modern, reliable structure that will form the hub for an integrated infrastructure system serving the local area and its people.
Thanks to the aerodynamic nature of the wing-like profile, the bridge is designed to withstand wind speeds of up to 216 km per hour, even if in more than twenty years of wind monitoring by a local meteorological station the maximum average wind speed at the level of the deck was approximately 120 km per hour. Years of studies and wind tunnel testing have enabled us to achieve excellent levels of crossing comfort, ensuring the bridge can remain open to road and rail traffic 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
From a seismic viewpoint, the Bridge is able to withstand an earthquake of 7.1 on the Richter scale (comparable to the quake that struck Messina in 1908).
- Total length between the expansion joints: 3,666 metres
- 3 road lanes in each direction (an overtaking lane, a normal driving lane and an emergency lane)
- 2 rail tracks
- 2 service lanes
- maximum capacity: 200 trains a day – 6,000 vehicles an hour
- open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day
- a useful life of 200 years
The deck
- A steel, multi-beamed, wing-like deck (universally known as “Messina style”) that can withstand wind speeds of 216 km an hour.
- Length of the central span: 3,300 metres
- Width of the rail deck: 7.5 metres
- Width of the road deck: 14.2 metres
- Use of an embedded rail with a lower weight than traditional solutions, limiting noise emissions
Messina Strait Bridge: deck cross section.
The Towers
- Two metal towers each one having 2 legs linked by 3 crossbeams
- Height: 399 metres
- Weight: 55,000 tonnes
- Structure of 1 tower: 2 legs consisting of 22 ashlars of variable height
- Ashlars: octagonal section of 20×12 metres, with a maximum height of 20 metres and weighing 1,200 tonnes. These are factory-produced, transported by sea and assembled on site
- Assembly: using a self-climbing system for each leg
- Foundations: 2 circular plinths in reinforced concrete linked by a crossbeam (diameters of 55 metres for the tower on the Sicilian side and 48 metres for the tower on the Calabrian side)
Suspension system
2 cable pairs with a diameter of 1.26 metres, measuring 5,320 metres between the two anchors
MAIN CABLES
● 2 cable pairs in high-resistance steel placed at a distance of 52 metres: each cable consists of prefabricated parallel wire strands
● cable diameter: 1.26 metres
● each cable consists of 349 prefabricated strands made up of 127 wires
● a total of 44,323 wires for each cable
● length of strands: approximately 5,300 metres
● total weight of the 4 cables: approximately 170,000 tonnes
WIRES
The system of wires consists of high-resistance vertical steel strands supporting the deck on both sides, connecting it every 30 metres with the main cable pairs.
Anchor blocks
The anchor blocks are very large in size but have a minimal visual impact.
The total volume is 533,000 ㎥, but only 17% of the volume is above ground. The main cables are fixed to the block using steel plates anchored to the concrete using looped, post-stressed tie rods.
Navigation clearance
The Strait of Messina Bridge’s navigation clearance is 72 metres over a width of 600 metres and reaches 70 metres under road and rail traffic conditions, i.e. full load of roadways and simultaneous transit of two trains.
These measurements are in line with bridges crossing major international shipping lanes.
Navigation clearance for bridges over major shipping lanes
Bridge records
| Strait of Messina Bridge | Current record | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Central span | 3,300 m | 2,023 m 1,991 m | 1915Çanakkale (TR) Akashi Bridge (J) |
| Deck width | 60.4 m | 41 m | Tsing Ma Bridge (HK) |
| Tower height | 399 m | 318 m | 1915Çanakkale (TR) |
| Number of cables in the suspension system | 4 | 2 | Akashi Bridge (J) |
| Diameter of suspension cables | 1.26 m | 1.12 m | Akashi Bridge (J) |
| Steel wires per cable | 44,323 | 36,830 | Akashi Bridge (J) |
