Another very important step in the activities that the AdSP of the Strait has been developing for about two years has concluded in these days to make the port of Villa San Giovanni more efficient and welcoming in the management of passenger traffic who move on foot to cross the Strait of Messina.
The engineering companies responsible for developing the design of the new Passenger Terminal, the arrangement of the external areas and the upgrading of the port docks to allow the simultaneous and safe mooring of four fast vehicles at the same time have in fact delivered the studies at the technical feasibility level- economic.
the project in question it is part of a broader development and strengthening project of the intermodal hub of Villa San Giovannioperated in synergy between RFI and the Port Authority, and in fact is directly linked to the redevelopment and re-functionalization project of the railway station which will also make the railway system more welcoming for passengers.
The intervention under the responsibility of the AdSP deals in particular with reorganizing the external areas of the new piers, with constructing a new building with the function of Passenger Terminal and with creating shelters useful for protecting the pedestrian flows between the Railway Station, called new Passenger Terminal and the adjacent ferry embarkation areas of Caronte&Tourist and Bluferries.
The new lay-out of the piers, on which the new maritime station falls, was designed in expansion of the current quay called “slide 0″ and will ensure the availability of two docks for mooring in safety and in any weather condition, allowing the abandonment of the current single operational mooring, built inside a cradle already used by railway ships, which poses so many critical issues to passengers above all with reduced mobility.
The new Passenger Terminal plays a fundamentally important role in the project. Inside there are the various functions serving the users who ferry to and from Messina. The building is the terminal element of the new project and in strong dialogue and continuity with the interventions that RFI will carry out on the Villa San Giovanni railway station.
The building will develop on a level above ground and this volume divides the functions inside, creating two separate levels between public functions (ticket offices, toilets, bars, shops, and technical rooms) on the ground floor and service ones for the Port Authority, Institutions and Operators who will be able to open operating offices. The new spaces open to the public, such as the atrium and the bar, are designed as a large space overlooking the Strait of Messina, while the front-offices of the ticket offices are located on the internal side towards the city. Conceived as flexible spaces, with the possibility of future functional remodulations, they delimit the planimetric and volumetric space, giving greater strength to the double volume of the internal atrium.
In the next few days the overall project, for the modification of the layout of the quay and for the new passenger terminalwill be the subject of a special service conference which will allow for the acquisition of all the opinions necessary to start the subsequent tender phase for the executive planning and construction of the works.
The estimated cost of the works designed in this way is around 70 million euros with funds that are currently only partially available and which it is hoped, due to the strategic importance of the intervention, to be able to identify quickly so as not to block the start of the races.
Mario Mega: “Now we finally have a very detailed technical-economic feasibility project”
“The improvement of the conditions of the passengers who ferry on foot on the Strait of Messina on the Messina-Villa San Giovanni section, mostly commuters or train travellers, was one of the pillars of our administrative action and has committed many resources to find a solution that put together both the operational needs of the new and future port traffic and the expectations of the city of Villa San Giovanni. Now we finally have a very detailed technical-economic feasibility project, both for the part of the modifications necessary to the docks for the upgrading of the moorings of fast vehicles and for the new passenger terminal, which also allows us to have the overall picture of the necessary economic resources . Another element that we favored was full integration with the railway station and this was made possible by the full synergy activated with RFI, also from a planning point of view, which will make it possible to create one of the most efficient railway-maritime intermodal hubs in Italy in Villa San Giovanni and in which passengers will always be able to move conditions of safety and maximum comfort.”.