The Messina Strait Bridge, which would connect Sicily with the Italian mainland, continues to divide public opinion. More specifically, the Italian minister of transport Matteo Salvini is making projections on improved rail transit times which might be hard to keep. Moreover, the rest of the government is now considering including the project under the investments needed to increase military spending, as NATO dictates.
The first thing that needs to be pointed out is that, currently, the project for a bridge across the Messina Strait remains on paper, as it has been for the past 90 years. Such a bridge would, on paper, improve rail freight connectivity between Sicily and the Italian mainland, which currently takes place on rail ferries operated by Mercitalia.
The Italian government has been very vocal regarding its commitment to the project, but nothing concrete has yet happened. Salvini remains hopeful that the final approval from CIPESS (the national authority tasked with reviewing and possibly greenlighting the project) will arrive before the end of the month.
Numbers are off
However, this is not Salvini’s hottest take on the project. The Italian transport minister claimed that freight trains will take 15 minutes to cross the bridge compared to the current 180. In reality, this equation might be missing a few variables. The Mercitalia rail ferry currently takes about 20 minutes to transport wagons across the Messina Strait.
Other than the actual time needed to cross the Strait, the 180 minutes mentioned by Salvini also include waiting times once the ferry arrives, transfers on the railways and the prioritisation of passenger trains. On the other hand, these problems run the very concrete risks of not being solved, as the rail infrastructure in Sicily and Calabria is still lagging behind. Moreover, passenger trains would still be given priority over freight trains once they cross the bridge.
In other words, the sole act of crossing the bridge would be reduced from the 20 minutes needed by ferry with the 15 minutes needed by train. Despite this, the remaining 160 minutes it usually takes for a train to be properly dispatched will not magically disappear unless the infrastructure surrounding the bridge on both sides is massively improved. Both the ministry and the Italian railway holding Ferrovie dello Stato have made many pledges for huge investments in Sicily and Calabria, but much time is needed before any result will be visible.
The NATO idea
One of the latest ideas from the Italian government of the project is to include the costs for the construction of the Messina Strait Bridge in the increased defence spending imposed by NATO. The organisation asked its members to increase their defence spending to 5% of their GDP by 2035: 3.5% in pure defence expenses and 1.5% for security, which includes infrastructure.
The south of Italy, and Sicily in particular, play a pivotal role for NATO, as there are many bases such as the Naval Air Station in Sigonella and the telecommunication facility in Niscemi. Already in 2023, the Italian government underlined that a bridge across the Messina Strait would be a fundamental infrastructure for military mobility.
NATO would still need to accept the proposal of the Italian government, a procedure which might facilitate the realisation of the bridge. Most importantly, however, the Italian government must secure the funds needed for the initiative. The government led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni needs to find 13.5 billion euros for the construction and three additional billion euros every year for maintenance.
Will it hinder maritime traffic?
One last question mark concerning the Messina Strait Bridge project is its impact on maritime traffic. The Messina Strait is one of most active shipping routes in Europe as it connects the Thyrrenian and Ionian Sea. If the bridge is built following the current project (which was drafted in 2011), some of the bigger ships might not be able to pass underneath it.
The navigable corridor under the bridge would be 70 metres under normal conditions and 65 metres in case of heavy traffic. On the other hand, these calculations do not seem to take into consideration that the conditions of the sea might change due to tidal movements or weather changes. Already in 2023, for example, there were 20 ships taller than 65 metres crossing the Messina Strait in a north-south direction and vice versa.
