Accidents, chaos and construction sites: a 27-kilometer junction on the A4 Venice-Trieste motorway
Third lane: 440 million euros are missing for the works on the San Donà-Portogruaro. Pending the extension of the concession there is one fatal accident per month
VENICE. Twenty-seven kilometers of asphalt missing. A continuous trail of blood, accidents, delays in circulation. A sort of Suez Canal by road where the distraction of a motorist or a truck driver is enough to interrupt the transport economy to and from Eastern Europe. This is the situation in which the funnel of the A4 motorway pours, in the Venetian section between San Donà di Piave and Portogruaro, where the third lane is missing.
In fact, from 1970 to today, the infrastructure has remained identical to itself. Since the beginning of the year there have already been ten victims on the stretch of the A4 that crosses eastern Veneto. On average, one fatal accident per month. The dead are mostly truckers and workers. But there were also several accidents which, although fortunately without irreversible consequences, still caused serious injuries.
And, even when there were no consequences for people, the repercussions were significant for traffic. This is the case of what happened on 25 August, when an LPG tank caught fire between Portogruaro and Latisana. The emergency resulted in the closure of the motorway for 12 hours.
The last remaining stretch to be designed and built is, in fact, the one between San Donà and Portogruaro: 27 kilometers. Estimated cost: 440 million euros. Now, on the horizon, there seem to be precise indications on timing and funding. The regional councilor for transport Elisa De Berti put it on paper, in recent days she replied to a question from the Democratic Party.
First of all, the frame of the A4 Venice-Trieste is that of an infrastructure entrusted in concession by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility to Autovie Venete, a company chaired by Maurizio Paniz and 72.9% owned by Friulia Spa, whose shareholder of the majority is the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region with 78.3%, the Veneto Region with 4.8% shareholding, the Municipality of Venice and others.
Infrastructure tolls are collected by the company and used for the management and maintenance of the motorway itself. The extension of the concession is functional to the creation of a newco, Società Autostrade Alto Adriatico, 67% owned by the Friuli Region and 33% by Veneto. Then there is the great theme of financing and the progress of the work. The first Venice-San Donà lot has already been completed and in operation.
Two interventions are still in progress: the Portogruaro-Alvisopoli section at an advanced construction stage will be completed by December 2022; by the end of 2021 the Gonars-Palmanova section should be completed. More complex speech for the expansion of the Lisert tollbooth in Monfalcone. After the suspension of the first race, the final ranking of the second race was recently published. The start of the works is expected in a short time. But the real puzzle concerns the two-lane section between San Donà di Piave, San Stino di Livenza and Portogruaro.
“On that aspect, the construction site activities are not late for the approved programs,” says the regional councilor who then communicates that recently 50 million euros have been allocated to that section for new flyover states, preparatory to the construction of the third lane. The works in this case will start in 2023 and will end in 2026. However, about € 440 million is missing to complete the entire third lane that will be recovered from the tariff revenues of the financial plan of the new concession ”, continues De Berti.
“The Region is endeavoring to speed up as much as possible the procedure for awarding the new concession to the newly formed company owned by the two Regions”.
Finally, within the current year, the Services Conference is scheduled for the approval of the Preliminary Project for the San Stino di Livenza tollbooth.
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