In April 2024 the request for integration of the documentation
Recall that the Commission via – VAS of the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Safety (Mase) and the Ministry of Culture (MIC) had requested supplementary documentation for the bridge project on the Strait of Messina which involved a large design update with 239 requests from the Mase and 11 from the Mic.
According to what reported on the Strait of Messina website, this has led to the review of over 800 design documents, also anticipating some studies foreseen for the executive project. The additions include updated studies and modeling, specific insights and responses to the observations of the public and associations.
Among the main focuses, the Mase and the MIC have requested further investigations in the field, including terrestrial, batteries and underwater faunal reliefs, to ensure compliance with the ecosystems involved. The close company of Messina has worked with a multidisciplinary team of national and international experts. According to the AD, the environmental monitoring plan, implemented before, during and after the works, will be essential to verify the effectiveness of the sustainability and environmental mitigation measures adopted.
In November 2024 the OK of the Environmental Evaluation Technical Commission
The technical commission of evaluation of the environmental impact of the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Safety (Mase) in mid -November 2024 issued a favorable opinion on the final project of the bridge over the Strait of Messina.
Pietro Ciucci, CEO of Strait of Messina, described this approval as “an important step forward” for the realization of the work, underlining the commitment of the Commission in the evaluation of such a complex project. The CEO has confirmed the company’s commitment to focus on the technical requirements to be implemented in the executive phase, simplified by the design divided by phases.
The bridge over the Strait of Messina and seismic safety
About seismic security, the project of the Strait Ponte di Messina is the subject of studies conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (Ingv) and the La Sapienza University of Rome.
Ingv experts have provided support since 2011 for the Geosismotettonic framework, through field reliefs and geosismic prospects.
The elaboration of the final project was conducted with the support of different specialized realities, such as Eurolink (a consortium that includes webuild and other world experts of suspended bridges) and Parsons Transportation Group. Edison Next provided environmental monitoring, while an Expert Panel supported the checks on aerodynamics-hero, seismic, geotechnics and the environment.
Bridge on the Strait: next expected steps
Now that there has been the approval of the final project by the Cipess (6 August 2025) the executive phase can be started. First, however, the Committee’s resolution must follow this process for effectiveness:
- Drafting, edited by the Dipe (Department for the programming and coordination of economic policy), of the definitive text of the provision;
- verification of the impacts of public finance of the Ministry of Economy and Finance;
- formalization of the secretary and the president of the Cipess;
- preventive control of legitimacy of the Court of Auditors;
- publication in the Official Gazette.
This process – which on average lasts a couple of months – can be monitored on the site programming economic.gov.it in the section At what point is the resolution?.
Minister Matteo Salvini declared the start of “construction sites, works and expropriations” between September and October 2025. The opening to the traffic of the bridge over the Strait of Messina is estimated for now between 2032 and 2033.
