Building Investment (November-December 2021)

INFRASTRUCTURE
GENOA
SAN GIORGIO BRIDGE
The highly-anticipated motorway bridge in Genoa finally opened to regular
traffic, nearly two years after the collapse of its predecessor, Ponte Morandi.
The Viadotto Genova-San Giorgio, also known
as Genoa San Giorgio Bridge, is now opened to
regular traffic.
Designed by renowned Italian architect Renzo
Piano, the 1,100-metre-long concrete and steel
viaduct carries four lanes of the A10 motorway
across the Polcevera River in the northwestern
city of Genoa. The Genoa San Giorgio Bridge is the replacement
for its predecessor, Ponte Morandi, which collapsed during a
heavy rainstorm on 14 August 2018. The tragedy, one of the worst
infrastructural failures in modern Italian history, claimed 43 lives,
injured more than a dozen, and left hundreds homeless.
The design and build of the new US$220 million replacement
bridge over the Polcevera River and the area of Val Polcevera
was completed in less than two years following round-the-clock
construction.
“Its rapid reconstruction aims to become a model for the
renovation and adaptation of Italian infrastructure with a high
social, economic and strategic significance,” said Piano’s studio
Renzo Piano Building Workshop.
Described by the studio as an “urban bridge”, the bridge’s
deck is supported by 18 slender reinforced concrete piers spaced
50 metres apart except in the central section where they are
separated by 100 metres.
Each of the piers has an elliptical section designed to allow
the light to “slip” on the surface and help mitigate the impact on
the neighbourhood below. The piers support a steel and concrete
deck that is isolated by a system of support devices that are
designed to protect the structure from seismic activity.
According to Piano’s studio, the underside of the deck
is curved to be reminiscent of the form of a ship. “From an
architectural point of view, the form described by the deck, which
28 November-December 2021 | www.b-i.biz