Camp Darby changes, the first works started
PISA. The preparatory works have largely already been completed. Old buildings no longer used demolished and some concrete areas in disuse demolished. Others, however, are gradually emerging. Elements of a maxi-project destined to modify the landscape between Pisa and Livorno.
In the coming months, the first pieces of the railway road that in 2023 will lead to the inauguration of the new railway section for the connection of the small station of Tombolo with the Ammunition Storage Area (Asa) of Camp Darby could already be visible, at least in part, the area of the US military base used for the storage and preservation of orders and ammunition, the largest military “warehouse” in the United States outside national borders.
The works for the construction of the railway connection that will be used by the Stars and Stripes enclave for rail transport have started. from the port of Livorno.
In the coming months, presumably in April, a swing bridge will appear on the Navicelli Canal, probably the one that outside the base will be one of the “visible” works among the many planned for the 37.4 million dollars project (entirely financed by the United) which in 2016, at the request of the Pentagon, received the green light from Comipar (the joint commission made up of representatives of the American and Italian governments) as deemed strategic for “human health and public safety”.
The infrastructure, which will be used by the railway trains to cross the Navicelli Canal and head to the storage area of the base, has already been built, while the works for the preparation of the land in the areas behind and near the station will continue. Tombolo, free from vegetation and disused structures, where the bridge will be positioned.
In the testing phase in another site, the work will be placed in the coming months for some technical tests. The final installation is scheduled for next year. Built in steel, the bridge has a single span 68 meters long, 38.5 of which represent the stretch of crossing the Canale dei Navicelli, and 6.5 meters wide. It will rest on reinforced concrete foundations anchored to a piling about 50 meters deep. Once the project is completed, the infrastructure will almost always remain closed (parallel to the canal bank) allowing the passage of ships without any restrictions and will be sporadically open to allow the passage of railway loads going to or from the Camp Darby storage area.
Within the next year the dredging, cleaning and maintenance operations of a Navicelli canal and the strengthening of its banks will start and will also be completed, also preparatory to the strengthening of the so-called Tombolo Dock, the quay used for receiving and shipment of material by sea (connected with the port of Livorno), currently undergoing redevelopment.
At the same time, the works for the construction of the new structures continue as per the timetable (mainly two terminals, one used for loading and loading materials, the other to examine suspicious loads) and the positioning of the tracks: 2.5 kilometers of railway which will be traveled (six times a year according to forecasts) to supply the approximately 120 refrigerated bunkers where the war material is stored.
The infrastructure will be operational no earlier than 2023. To allow the project to materialize, 937 trees were cut, against which the US government has undertaken to implement a compensation plan that provides for the planting of 5,727 new trees and a few thousand of small shrubs.
In addition, the spaces occupied by 64 small buildings no longer used (most of them already demolished) and some disused concrete areas (squares and asphalted streets) will also be converted into green.
Overall, the plan provides for the transformation into “natural” of 17 hectares occupied by asphalt and concrete against about 7 hectares of greenery that will be occupied by new buildings.
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