Rome, the Iron Bridge will be wider: green light to the works
A new footbridge that will run along the street level. Wider roadways and reinforced pillars to allow buses and trucks to cross. In April, the construction site will open for the restyling of the Ponte di Ferro (or Ponte dell’Industria), the 131-metre infrastructure that passes over the Tiber between the Ostiense and Portuense districts. And that in October 2021 it was engulfed in flames. The fire forced the Municipality to close it for 70 days, without undermining its foundations.
As mentioned, the bridge will again be closed to traffic from April for works that will end with the beginning of the Jubilee of 2025. It is no coincidence that the work has been included among the construction sites financed for the Holy Year (the investment is 6 million euros). It doubles the objective of the project: to increase the transport capacity to also allow the passage of buses and trucks and to raise the level of safety for pedestrians, who currently cross the bridge on the very narrow sidewalks. On the first front, on the one hand, the sidewalks will be eliminated to widen the roadway and exploit the 7.5 meters available to ensure the passage of even heavier vehicles; on the other, action will be taken to strengthen and consolidate the so-called pulvinus, the joining elements between the pillars and the deck. Which instead will not be touched, because we are talking about an infrastructure bound by the Superintendence.
As regards the passage of pedestrians, a protected walkway will be inserted next to one of the two lanes, also designed to allow the safe crossing of the disabled. The flooring of the infrastructure had already been redone in the winter of 2021, after the fire which according to the investigators was most likely arson, even if the prosecutor then decided to close the case, because the perpetrators were never discovered.
Ornella Segnalini, Councilor for Infrastructure, explains: «With this new work, we are sewing together two parts of the city that have suffered from a non-optimal connection over time». Thanks to the intervention, Segnalini speaks «of a new bridge, safe and passable both by cars and buses and by pedestrians and fragile users. The Romans had been waiting for the reconstruction of the Iron Bridge for some time, a strategic and essential road axis for city life. With Mayor Gualtieri we have launched a season of great works that will take Rome up to the Jubilee, making it a safer and more functional city”.
TIMETABLE
The intervention will be carried out by Anas, which has already entrusted the work to a company selected through its program agreement. Last Tuesday the so-called load test was carried out, which consists in filling the inflatables with water to measure the deformations with electronic and topographical instruments. In the Campidoglio, the publication in the Official Gazette of the decree of the Prime Minister is expected at the beginning of next week to release over one billion euros for interventions on the Jubilee, including six million for the Iron Bridge. So the last step is expected at the Superintendency for the last go-ahead for the design and it will be possible to start with the opening of the construction site.
In fact, in April, work will begin with the installation of a temporary walkway to house the underground utilities (gas and electricity cables), which today pass under the vaults of the bridge. There will clearly be inconvenience to traffic between the Ostiense and Portuense districts. As already happened after the fire of October 2021, it is advisable to pass through Ponte Marconi for those arriving from Magliana and from Ponte Testaccio for those arriving from Portuense or the Gianicolense ring road.
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