Academic term

Genoa, Italy: Demolition work continues on the Morandi Bridge, which collapsed six months ago, killing 43 people. Photo: Luca Zennaro/EPA.

Walls and Bridges

Italian magazine L’Espresso’s investigative reporter Fabrizio Gatti writes that engineers had warned already in February that corrosion of the metal cables supporting the Genoa highway bridge had reduced the bridge’s strength by 20 per cent — months before the structure’s deadly collapse last week. Despite the warnings, however, “neither the ministry, nor the highway company, ever considered it necessary to limit traffic, divert heavy trucks, reduce the roadway from two to one lanes or reduce the speed” of vehicles on the key artery for the northern port city, Mr. Gatti writes. Furthermore – Mr. Gatti adds – the six-member Committee of Inquiry appointed by the Italian Minister of Infrastructures and Transports to investigate the responsibility of disaster, includes three commissioners — named by the Minister himself — who have been working for Autostrade per l’Italia, the private company that operates the A10 toll highway.

The scene of the Morandi Bridge collapse. Photo: Luca Zennaro/ANSA/AP.

Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There

• The Observer editorial, The Observer view on politicians who refuse to accept blame, The Guardian, July 19, 2018

The instant search for scapegoats in Italy following Tuesday’s fatal bridge collapse in Genoa has been as unedifying as it is unenlightening. Several possible culprits have already been identified: the bridge operators, the architect, corrupt contractors, past governments and EU-imposed austerity. This last accusation, by [...] the far-right deputy prime minister, was especially scurrilous — a crude attempt to use the tragedy to bolster a political agenda. It seems Italy’s quest for answers will not be helped by its political bosses. [Read more].

The Other Side of the Mirror

Lorries abandoned by their drivers still stand on the Morandi Bridge three days after a section collapsed in Genoa, Italy. Photo: AFP/Piero Cruciatti.

The Vintage Years

Construction boom of 1960s led to mafia involvement and use of cheap materials to boost profits The collapse of a bridge in Genoa on Tuesday, which killed 39 people, is the latest symptom of Italy’s infrastructure woes. More than 2m homes across the country are unstable, according to figures from the national statistics agency, Istat, and more than 156 school ceilings have fallen in over the last five years. The Morandi Bridge, considered an engineering jewel when it was inaugurated in 1967, was the 12th bridge to have collapsed in Italy since 2004. Five of those were in the last five years. Many of the problems can be traced back to the construction boom of the 1960s, when bridges, roads, buildings and schools were being built, often with weak or cheap material to increase profits, and ending up in the hands of the mafia. [Read more].

• Lorenzo Tondo, Italy’s crumbling infrastructure under scrutiny after bridge collapse, The Guardian, August 17, 2018

The buildings beneath the collapsed Morandi Bridge. Photo: Laura Lezza/Getty Images.

Screenshot

If nothing else, the lucky truck driver who stopped just inches short of the abyss during the Morandi motorway bridge collapse in Genoa, Italy would deserve a special award from his landlord — the Sogegross group — for his improvised performance in the advertising of the supermarket chain Basko. Photo: Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images.

Overtime

Rescuers scour through the rubble and wreckage after the Morandi motorway bridge collapsed earlier in Genoa, Italy. Photo: AFP/Andrea Leoni.

The Bridge Over the River

Genoa, Italy: A large section of the Morandi viaduct, upon which the A10 motorway runs, lies in the Polcevera river. The bridge — which goes over shopping centres, factories, some homes, and the Genoa–Milan railway line — gave way amid torrential rain on Tuesday, killing at least 35 people as vehicles plummeted to the ground. Photo: Luca Zennaro/EPA.