New steel Genoa bridge in 8 mts

(ANSA) - Milan, August 21 - The board of Autostrade per l'Italia said Tuesday it could build a new steel bridge in Genoa in eight months to replace the Morandi Bridge that collapsed killing 43 last Wednesday.
    (Meanwhile the bridge between Ostia and Fiumicino near Rome was closed due to erosion.) The company, the Autostrade board said, was "continuing the activity of planning and design for the reconstruction of the Morandi Bridge." The board said "the project sees the involvement of firms, executors and designers of an international level" and "envisages the demolition of the current remaining structures and the reconstruction of the bridge in steel according to the most modern technologies today available in an estimated period of eight months starting from the obtainment of the necessary authorisations".
    The board approved a 500 million euro plan with its own resources in the wake of the collapse.
    The plan, already announced at a Saturday press conference in Genoa, includes initiatives for the families struck by the tragedy, for the reconstruction of the bridge, for Genoa's road transit system and the suspension of tolls on certain routes, the board said in a statement.
    The Italian government is seeking to strip Autostrade, which is controlled by the Benetton family through the Atlantia group, of its license to operate Italy's highways.
    A combination of factors may have caused the bridge collapse, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
    "The probe is aimed at a series of possible causes," said lead investigator Francesco Cozzi.
    He said "they could be concomitant, but it may not necessarily be so".
    On Monday investigators were looking at the possibility that a heavy bridge crane may have caused the bridge to start buckling.
    Atlantia on Tuesday recouped 3% on the Milan bourse after a string of losses following the disaster.
    Meanwhile Premier Giuseppe Conte reiterated that the government was planning to strip Autostrade of its motorway concession. (At the Ostia-Fiumicino bridge, tests were being performed on structural corrosion.) (Experts noted that a new bridge had been expected there for years.)