# Bridge proposed between Italy and Sicily **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 1, 2024, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538 "2024-11-01T10:24:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/21 "2024-11-01T14:41:35Z")
Except you wouldn’t be trapped in a collapsed tunnel. Most likely you’d be dead immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/22 "2024-11-01T14:43:52Z")
I also often have the urge to fling my phone out of my car on the highway or a bridge. It’s a little scary. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/23 "2024-11-01T14:51:38Z")
Cost/benefit wise, it sounds like a home run. Engineering-wise, I wonder if there’s a little bit of engineering/construction dick-measuring / flexing going on here, and if they could potentially do it cheaper and safer with something considerably less sexy than the world’s largest suspension bridge. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/24 "2024-11-01T14:59:15Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > I don’t understand the whole ‘direct continental route from the Suez’ thing. I mean it’s not like there’s any shortage of _other_ Mediterranean ports for ships coming from the Suez Canal to choose from that’s going to provide any significant geographic cost savings benefit to Europe. I think this must be the key issue, because I don’t see purely local traffic between Sicily and the mainland justifying the cost of the bridge. So is there any reason why Sicily would make a dandy port? ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/25 "2024-11-01T15:10:52Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > I wonder why a bridge, rather than a tunnel? > > Compared to other tunnels like the Chunnel, this seems like a fairly easy project. As I understand it there is an active fault line that a tunnel would need to directly cross, which may make a tunnel more likely to be disrupted than a bridge. One other thing that I see mentioned on articles about this is that the Mafia is still very active in Sicily and southern Calabria and there’s definite concern that organized crime may find a way to sabotage/milk money off the project. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/26 "2024-11-01T15:21:03Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Except you wouldn’t be trapped in a collapsed tunnel. Most likely you’d be dead immediately. My feelings, being feelings, are emotionally based. Don’t cloud the issue with facts. LOL ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/27 "2024-11-01T15:29:36Z")
FYI, there is a [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Messina_Bridge) on this proposed Strait of Messina Bridge, including descriptions of plans dating back to Roman times for other bridge crossings. (The Roman design would have been a series of boats and barrels.) ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/28 "2024-11-01T15:30:36Z")
If they could do it, it would be quite the feat of engineering. My biggest concern is that area of the Mediterranean is pretty seismically active. It’s a subduction zone, so any earthquake would probably be vertical, which can be pretty darned destructive. I’m sure any engineer worth their salt would take that into consideration. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/29 "2024-11-01T16:23:01Z")
I too am puzzled by the ‘direct continental route from the Suez’ thing. Why can’t ships coming from the Suez deliver goods directly to Sicily now? ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/30 "2024-11-01T18:23:48Z")
To add to the “trapped in a tunnel fear”. I have visited Perry’s Monument on South Bass Island in Lake Erie several times over the years. But the last time (ten years ago) will be my last time. I guess I have grown more claustrophobic as I get older. To ascend the monument you walk up winding stairs that encircle the inside of the stone tower. But they are not open to the interior. It is a narrow tiled walkway just wide enough for one person. Part way up you can no longer see the bottom and all you see is this rising, twisting corridor of death. If ever something would happen it would jam immediately with all the people. It’s often crowded with a person on every step. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Steps_inside_Perry%27s_Monument_Ohio.JPG/678px-Steps_inside_Perry%27s_Monument_Ohio.JPG) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Steps_inside_Perry%27s_Monument_Ohio.JPG/678px-Steps_inside_Perry%27s_Monument_Ohio.JPG) ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/31 "2024-11-01T18:32:48Z")
It looks very Backrooms. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/32 "2024-11-01T19:45:37Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > I too am puzzled by the ‘direct continental route from the Suez’ thing. Why can’t ships coming from the Suez deliver goods directly to Sicily now? They can, I think the idea is supposed to be that a bridge would mean that goods could be offloaded at Sicily and then move by truck or train to destinations on the mainland. Though as already asked what’s the advantage of that? ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/33 "2024-11-01T19:55:18Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > One other thing that I see mentioned on articles about this is that the Mafia is still very active in Sicily and southern Calabria and there’s definite concern that organized crime may find a way to sabotage/milk money off the project. This alone makes me doubt the estimated cost of the bridge. Fleecing major public construction projects is a specialty of La Cosa Nostra. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/34 "2024-11-01T19:59:49Z")
Wouldn’t the biggest appeal of the bridge be for moving cargo between Sicily and the rest of Italy? ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/35 "2024-11-01T20:02:31Z")
Strange tat nobody has mentioned [Scylla and Charybdds](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scylla_and_charybdis) so far: those are the starting and the endpoints of the bridge. And I believe they are famous since Greek times (yes, far pre-dating Rome) for a reason. And a geological fault line. And a many headed monster. The last fool who wanted to build that bridge was Silvio Berlusco(glio)ni, but now that he is dead, his accolites have resorted to the cheaper and more reasonable solution of naming Milan’s airport, formerly called Malpensa (like _honi soit qui mal-y-pense_) after him. Yes, that bridge offers portentous stealing possibilities, but also political ruin. Ah, yes, and then there is the Mafia. First they want a cut, then they sell you overpriced building material that does not respect the technical specifications. My advice: don’t do it. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/36 "2024-11-01T20:04:46Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Wouldn’t the biggest appeal of the bridge be for moving cargo between Sicily and the rest of Italy? As opposed to container ships coming through the Mediterranean simply offloading at any of Italy’s ports instead? As mentioned upthread, the purely local traffic wouldn’t seem to justify the cost. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/37 "2024-11-01T20:17:47Z")
Spot on. The bridge is a political football not unlike the US-Mexican border wall. Rightwing nationalist governments campaign on finishing it so they might have concrete evidence of Italian greatness and intervening technocratic governments cancel it because every competent analysis shows that it makes no economic sense. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/38 "2024-11-01T20:22:33Z")
Here is a good video about a possible bridge between Italy and Sicily. Tl;Dw…not gonna happen any time soon. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Rqx0RH7cUY8/hqdefault.jpg "Italy's $12BN Bridge Mystery") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqx0RH7cUY8) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/39 "2024-11-01T20:26:42Z")
I should have added that while it is probably something that could be built it would be pushing the boundaries of bridge engineering in several respects and that means very expensive. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538/40 "2024-11-01T20:30:45Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > You don’t have to worry about hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. Um, you did hear the news about a waterspout taking out that rich guy’s [yacht](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sicily-yacht-sunk-mike-lynch-missing-tornado-bayesian/) recently, didn’t you? That was part of a larger outbreak of [tornados](https://youtu.be/SkUev9fiQI8) hitting Sicily. That strait has notoriously bad weather, earthquakes, etc. It’s depth forces an extra-long span which would be a serious achilles heel. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridge-proposed-between-italy-and-sicily/1009538.md?page=3)