Strait of Messina Bridge: Green Light for the Longest Suspension Bridge in the World

All the secrets and records of the longest suspension bridge in the world, which will not only connect Calabria and Sicily, but will also be a strategic infrastructure for the TEN-T and for Italian and European economic growth.

From the myth of Scylla and Charybdis to an engineering world record, there is both a physical leap and a leap through time. The leap through time is that of history — a history stretching back thousands of years that, since 1969 (the year of the first ideas competition for the Messina Strait Bridge), has gained momentum, aiming to make the dream of connecting Sicily to the mainland come true.

The physical leap is across the sea: the Strait of Messina is just over 3 kilometers long, requiring the most modern technologies and the best engineering companies in the world, all at the service of this record-breaking project.

This infrastructure will not only connect Calabria and Sicily, but will also help complete the Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corridor, one of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) outlined by the European Union to accelerate the movement of people and goods within the single market.

Sicily marks the southernmost point of that Corridor — the final outpost before Africa in a journey that begins in Sweden and Norway and traverses all of Europe.

The leap made by the Strait of Messina Bridge is therefore much broader — the same kind of leap made by all the great infrastructures that have changed Europe, from the Mont Blanc tunnel to the Channel Tunnel, and now promises to deeply transform Southern Italy and its future prospects.

Strait of Messina Bridge: The Longest Suspension Bridge in the World

The green light for the construction of the Strait of Messina Bridge is the go-ahead for an ambitious and innovative project — a record-breaking endeavor set to achieve global milestones and write a new chapter in construction history.

With a central span of 3,300 meters, the Messina Strait Bridge will be the longest suspension bridge in the world. Its full deck will measure 3,666 meters, and the infrastructure will include two roadways with three lanes each (two driving lanes and one emergency lane), plus a double-track railway capable of handling up to 200 trains per day and 6,000 vehicles per hour.

At both ends of the bridge, two towers will rise to a height of 399 meters — taller than New York’s Empire State Building. These towers will support a suspension system formed by two pairs of cables, each with a diameter of 1.26 meters and made up of a total of 940,000 kilometers of steel wires.

The deck will stand 72 meters above sea level (70 meters under full load with two passenger trains traveling simultaneously), a figure in line with — or exceeding — that of existing bridges along major international shipping routes.

A Record-Breaking Transportation Infrastructure in Capacity and Technology

The engineering innovations developed during the planning phase ensure the Strait of Messina Bridge will deliver the highest levels of safety and functionality.

For its record-breaking deck, a new patented model has been designed — the Messina Type Deck — which ensures exceptional aerodynamic stability and allows the structure to withstand winds of up to 270 km/h.

The Messina Type Deck is considered such an innovative standard that it has already been replicated in other major projects, like the Çanakkale Bridgecurrently the longest suspension bridge in the world, built over the Dardanelles Strait in Turkey.

In addition to withstanding strong winds, the bridge is also designed to endure the most extreme earthquakes. Seismic studies confirm that the bridge will remain structurally sound even in the event of earthquakes measuring up to 7.1 on the Richter scale — among the strongest ever recorded.

Turning this vision into reality is the responsibility of Eurolink, the consortium responsible for its construction. The consortium is led by Webuild, along with the Sacyr Group (Spain) — which has already partnered with Webuild on the Panama Canal expansion project — and IHI (Japan), which has built bridges such as the Akashi in Japan and the Osman Ghazi in Turkey.

The design team includes some of the world’s most specialized companies in the field of suspension bridges, including COWI (Denmark), an engineering firm with over 90 years of experience, responsible for projects such as the Çanakkale Bridge in Turkey and the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark.

Well-Being, Employment, and Strategic Role in TEN-T: : The Economic Boom Driven by This Infrastructure Project

From the laying of the first stone to the passage of the first train along the deck, the bridge will act as an engine of economic growth and development for Italy.

According to a study by Unioncamere Sicilia and Uniontrasporti, conducted with support from Openeconomics, this infrastructural project’s impact on Italy’s GDP will exceed €23 billion, with over €10 billion in tax revenue.

During the suspension bridge construction phase alone, over 100,000 jobs — both direct and indirect — are expected to be created, with an economic ripple effect across the entire supply chain, from steel to advanced engineering, activating businesses in multiple Italian regions.

The same study estimates that the Messina Strait bridge will generate an annual increase in wealth of €2.9 billion, equivalent to 0.17% of national GDP, thanks to the efficiency gains it will bring to both national and international transport networks.

Its outlook, in fact, extends far beyond Sicily and Calabria. The Strait of Messina Bridge is central to the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor, along which — according to an analysis by RFI (Italian Railway Network, part of the State Railways Group) — approximately 70 million tons of goods are transported annually, a figure expected to grow by 25% over the next ten years.

The Messina Strait Bridge will become the final mile of this vast corridor — a link connecting distant lands and simultaneously a driver of development for a wide geographic area that has always served as a bridge between different histories and cultures.