Clearly I comisserate with those killed or hurt in the recent bridge collapse in Genoa, it must have been a terrifying way to die. More generally my thoughts are

1) within Italy there is clearly a lot of corruption especially surrounding the building industry
2) the country is in an earthquake zone
3) this bridge had been up for 50 years and had been spalling cement for some time
4) local politicians got to argue about repairing it or not....
5) where earthquakes have damaged buildings within Italy expenditure constraints, la sistema and old fashioned controls have slowed down repairs to a snail's pace

so when you next go to Italy how will you protect yourself from the consequences of this sort of thing or will you just trust to the gods? I've discussed this with Italians and they just put their head in their hands (or hair more litterally) what do you think?

I find it outrageous that the Italian minister is blaming Europe, even before all bodies have been recovered.

We drove from Italy to France last month, but not over that particular bridge. It was a road with lots of tunnels and bridges.
I will look up where the other bridges are that have this same design, and avoid those if possible.
These are all toll roads - so where did all the income from tolls go, if not on improving the actual roads?

All the tolls went and will continue to go into the bottomless pockets of pencil pushers, administrators, assistants to administrators, assistants to assistants to administrators, consultants, inspectors and secretaries with big tits.

When it comes to corruption and incompetence Italy and Quebec are pretty similar, so just take the following story, translate to Italian and you will have an idea of how this story will end.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montr...line-1.3784265

I protect my self from Italian incompetence by staying away from Italy.

It was the only Western European country where the customs officers openly requested a bribe. That was in in 79 in LaSpezia, I haven't been back since.

I won't be going to Italy either. I wasn't keen on going before, but after this I am staying away.
Typical of them to blame everyone but themselves for this tragedy.

" mettersi le mani nei capelli" BTW

If the US continues to ignore our aging road and bridge structures, the same will be happening here.

Just do not leave your home land as there could be many bridges in poor repair.
https://nos.nl/artikel/2246295-brugr...en-wakker.html

Then we can move on to the USA too.
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/02/u...rnd/index.html

It HAS happened here--Minneapolis is the worst example I can think of. I would more expect it to happen here than Italy, where I was always impressed with the roads--though I understand the issues behind this tragedy. It is a terrible feeling knowing that the powers that be care more about money than having infrastructure.

It was only11 years ago that the bridge collapse happened in Minneapolis. This is not unique to Italy.
https://www.npr.org/2017/08/01/54066...till-crumbling.

As long as people continue to support candidates promising immediate returns by taking money away from preventing future catastrophes, this would continue. For most people around me, what has not yet happened would never happen to them, and therefore they consider any spending on prevention not immediately around them as a boondoggle.

The like in Dutch, about the rest of Europe's Bridges and tunnels, is now semi repeated in English.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...e-warn-experts
The bit the English article missed out on is that the Spanish government consider this information to be a state secret and no information will be released under any "freedom of Information" request. That is not right.

OMG as my 13 year old would say.

Bilbo and Hets I’d expected more.

I’m now posting as the Fodors poster who is posting with more authority than any poster has ever posted on a thread before.

Im sat in our villa rental overlooking the Belice valley and the bridge we have just crossed in Sicily.

google it!

its the most dangerous bridge in the world. 8 miles from both Castelvetrano and Partanna in Sicily. Both towns are 100% Mafia central, scribbled on the walls are “Matteo Denaro, I’ve been here for 20 yearsand you still can’t find me!”

google it.

He is the only European individual on the FBIs most wanted top 10, been there for 20 years. SW Sicily is a small place and Porsches stand out a mile. The mafia control SW Sicily still.

The bridge we just drove over has temporary traffic lights on it because it’s being repaired, it looks like 200 match sticks lined up with tarmac on top. The Mafia lay the thin concrete and tarmac.

The reason why we just crossed the most dangerous bridge in the world is mathematics. There was statistically more chance of dying by driving from home to Manchester airport than by driving over the Mafia match stick bridge.

End of rant.

i’m going back to drinking Mafia controlled pasta, Nero D’Avola and Modica chocolate.

All of which are statistically more dangerous than crossing the bridge from Partanna to Castelvetrano.

And another thing Bilbo we live in a country which is controlled by the respectable Teresa May but which allowed grotty 1970s hell holes to be tarted up with completely flammable plastic. It looked great but burnt well.

I didnt see Italian posters refusing to rent flats in Chelsea following our national scandal.

Pps

If you really think that Britain is a beacon of transparent justice and democracy then just go sit in on any given local council planning meeting on a Tuesday night. There are far more brown paper bags on show than Palermo.

That really is the end of my rants.

The sun is just setting over Partanna bridge and it still hasn’t fallen down.

Well, we're going next month. I have no qualms, except that I might overindulge in my pasta eating habits.

Looking at pictures of that bridge I wonder why it was so high - going over a few rail lines and a river though drive - why build it over flats? Maybe the more expensive the more corruption can take its toll.

I think it was high because it was the best way to avoid disturbing what was already in place, namely a major rail network, established businesses , etc.

We had a similar road network in Montreal, the Turcotte Interchange. It was build high because at the time there was a major rail depot, and some shipping was still using the Lachine Canal.

https://www.dreamstime.com/editorial...-image77404916

Interesting view of the Genoa bridge on Google Streetview (Oct 2017). They were working on it to correct the faults in the original design.
Half the suspension supports have been modernized, with multiple cables placed outside the original structure, where they can be easily monitored and inspected, and the other tower still has the original concrete encased support cable, that could only be inspected by X-rays, almost an impossible task without shutting down the road completely.

Sassafrass, there have been tragic and well publicized bridge collapses here too, US.

Yes, I know, and I don't feel the problem has been well addressed.

I think that when I travel to a country, I put myself at risk, possibly experiencing the effects of all/any of its good and bad qualities. Whether that country is Rwanda or Italy or Mexico or England.

My heart is with those who perished and their families and friends.