What if the Bridge construction site built the Sea Metro? It is more than a simple hypothesis that has emerged in these weeks of first contacts between Palazzo Zanca and the Strait of Messina.
The creation of a connection line between Torre Faro and Tremestieri that is not close to the motorway or internal roads it could be one of those complementary and at the same time compensatory works linked to the project of the stable connection across the Strait. Complementary because it is useful for the entire construction phase, compensatory because it would remain “provided” to the city even after the end of the long works.
The proposal, made directly to the managing director of Stretto Pietro Ciucci, came from the mayor Basile and the councilor for mobility Mondello, finding interest and availability which must now be translated into concrete actions. The utility of having five “maritime stations” for whoever builds the Bridge is linked to logistics and the possibility of moving goods and people, including workers, on a vehicle that will not have traffic problems or delays on the timetable such as it could be anything else that moves on rubber.
«And for Messina, the metromare – says the deputy mayor Salvatore Mondello – would represent a work to mitigate the traffic that the construction site could bring to the city». An open discussion also with the coordinator of the technical table for mobility across the Strait, Nunzio Martello who has a privileged channel for communication with the Ministry of Transport which, in any case, will have to be called into question for authorizations and management of the service.
The landing places would be used promiscuously by civil and construction mobility, creating a credible alternative, even if not too widespread with just those 5 stations, to the other, few, longitudinal axes.
Also from this perspective of the involvement of the Strait of Messina in the construction of the infrastructure, the approval of the project created by Dinamica srl of Messina and which was presented to the city council at the end of January came in the last meeting of the Council. The design process has therefore been completed and has reached an in-depth technical-economic feasibility which could, with the new procurement code, directly start the tender. But if instead the work were to be carried out as part of the Bridge project, as an integral part of the construction site logistics, at that point a public procedure would not even be needed with an obvious saving in time.
«We have already talked about it with the Strait of Messina – reiterates councilor Mondello – finding an absolute opening. After the planning has been approved by the council, we can move on to a more concrete phase. And we will also talk about it at the table of our permanent commission.”
The reference is to the meetings scheduled in the next two weeks with stakeholders and city professionals on two hot topics such as expropriation procedures and planning and programming. The first scheduled for next Wednesday or Thursday, the second in the following week. In both cases, technicians from the Strait of Messina will be present who will be able to listen to the proposal for the construction of the metromare and perhaps give an initial evaluation.
Both in the case of construction (a work worth over 18 million euros, 12 of which for the works) by the technical governance of the Bridge, and if Palazzo Zanca were to take charge of it, the issue of managing the civil mobility service would remain . One of the hypotheses on the table would be that of the involvement of the ATM which, in this way, would have the opportunity to broaden the range of its offer into an absolutely new field.
Five stations
But what is the Sea Metro in detail? In the meantime, let's say that it is not a recent idea, but it is based on the 2006 Urban Mobility Plan, which will remain in force for a few more weeks while waiting for the new PUMs to also be approved by the Council, after the regional authorizations and the in progress of the Circumscriptions. Compared to the original idea, many things have changed. In the technical-economic feasibility project drawn up after a year of analysis and a “variant” by Dinamica Srl, the number of service stops would increase from eight to five.
They would be those of Torre Faro, Guardia, Molo Rizzo, Santa Cecilia and Tremestieri. «A reduction – engineer Daniele Ferlazzo of Dinamica explained to the sixth commission at the end of January – which arises from the verification of the context of the various locations and from consideration of travel times which would be out of market».
In the study, the journey between the two terminals including all intermediate stops was estimated at 80 minutes. But a direct connection between Torre Faro and Tremestieri would only last 25/30 minutes and when all the traffic for the continent moves to the new port to the south, this could be a good option to quickly reach the landing place that will replace Rada S. Francesco.
«Other stations can be added – Ferlazzo specified in that report to the councilors –, for example that of Gazzi, if the context is made compatible». A stop that would coincide with the new railway station of the Bridge project, therefore with an obvious strategic value.
Boats with around 200 seats could travel along the coastal route to ensure economic sustainabilityor smaller vehicles with less impact on personnel costs.
The public navigation service could also become an opportunity to organize excursions for tourists or cruise passengers who want to discover the city, the places of the myth of Scylla and Charybdis and the Bridge.
The certain costs are those of the construction of the 5 landing places with “transparent” and light structures: 18 million, but 12 for the actual works. Landings that can be useful to the construction site, especially those to the north, and to the city. And not only. In recent weeks the possibility of making the Metromare circular was also shared by the mayor of Reggio Calabria Falcomatà with the possibility of creating a shuttle with multiple points on the Calabrian coast.