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Transcript
0:00 · This is the Strait of Messina, a thin strip of water which separates Sicily
0:04 · from mainland Italy ... and this is the Strait of Messina bridge.
0:10 · When completed it will turn a 40 minute ferry journey into just a four minute drive. In doing
0:16 · so, it could make Sicily a global supply chain hub, create an unbroken highway
0:21 · across a continent and transform the economy of Italy's historically poorer southern half.
0:28 · But, not all is as it seems ... This isn't actually the official bridge design. We
0:34 · weren't able to get permission to show you the real one. And even though there
0:37 · was a big announcement about it back in March, no-one has been willing to talk to us about it.
0:42 · It's almost like there's an omerta over the bridge which has become an icon of failure in Italy.
0:51 · But despite this, there are hushed whispers that the bridge,
0:54 · which was first put forward in Roman times, could finally go ahead,
0:58 · or could it be that this infamous stretch of water is a bridge too far?
1:03 · This is the strange story of one of Italy's most controversial structures.
1:13 · Here at The B1M we know what it takes to construct a megaproject. Build something
1:18 · of any considerable size and you'll usually run into one of two problems: the fiendishly complex
1:23 · engineering of something like the Fehmarn Belt tunnel, or the intractable politics of the kind
1:28 · that has derailed Britain's HS2. The Strait of Messina Bridge has run into both of them.
1:33 · We'll come to the politics in a bit, but first the engineering. The current design
1:38 · for the Messina Strait Bridge is nothing if not ambitious.
1:41 · This stretch of water gave birth to the legend of Scylla and Charibdys,
1:45 · the mythological monsters that smash ships against rocks and drown sailors in whirlpools.
1:50 · As you might guess, that came around because the Strait of Messina is a violent stretch of water.
2:01 · It has two alternative currents strong strong enough to rip seaweed from the
2:06 · seabed and can experience gales up to 100 kilometres per hour.
2:10 · And if that wasn't enough, it also lies right in the middle of the fault line
2:15 · between the African and Eurasian tectonic plates.
2:18 · In 1908, the strait was at the epicentre of a 7.1
2:22 · magnitude earthquake which killed up to 82,000 people.
2:26 · So, how on earth do you build a bridge here?
2:30 · Well, we can't show you the official designs – we'll come
2:33 · to that shortly – but don't worry because we've drawn it instead.
2:37 · The plan is for a single span suspension bridge running from
2:40 · Torre Faro in Sicily to Villa San Giovanni on the Italian mainland.
2:44 · The single span solves the first issue the bridge faces,
2:48 · by not placing a pier in the strait, it saves the team having to contend with strong
2:53 · currents during construction and removes any obstacles to shipping once complete.
2:57 · Placing the towers on shore also gives them a firmer footing to withstand seismic activity,
3:03 · but to withstand an earthquake, more features are needed. The bridge will be fitted with a buffer,
3:08 · allowing the deck to flex and the whole thing will be kept in place by
3:12 · two anchors containing over five and a half million cubic metres of concrete and steel.
3:17 · But while that solves the issue of currents and quakes,
3:20 · it actually creates another problem: this bridge is gonna be enormous.
3:25 · When it's completed this will easily be the longest suspension bridge in the world,
3:30 · beating the current title holder, Turkey's Çanakkale Bridge, by over a kilometre.
3:35 · That leaves a huge area exposed to the strait's famously extreme winds. One
3:41 · way this is being compensated for is with an innovative deck design.
3:45 · Instead of one single deck, the bridge will comprise three separate boxes,
3:49 · two for roads and one for rail. These will be reinforced by crossbeams every 30 metres.
3:55 · The shallow wedge of the boxes deflects oncoming wind and pushes it up through the gaps in between.
4:00 · That's gonna help the bridge survive wind speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour.
4:07 · Now, before we get into what the bridge actually looks like, you should know that for any architect
4:12 · or an engineer designing something like this, they need a good knowledge of a range of STEM subjects.
4:16 · But don't worry if you've struggled learning these through traditional schooling. There's
4:21 · actually a really fun and easy way to learn about STEM for free to start.
4:24 · A good grasp of calculus is essential for any engineer. This week's video sponsor, Brilliant,
4:30 · has courses that easily break down complex concepts into quick, easy to follow lessons.
4:35 · It's a great way of visualising problems and solutions, such as
4:39 · understanding formulas for scaling up shapes.
4:41 · But if calculus isn't your thing then don't worry, Brilliant has thousands of lessons
4:46 · over widely different subject areas like probability and computer science,
4:51 · all of which are great for helping you level up your career or setting yourself a new challenge.
4:56 · To get started, try a free 30 day offer by visiting brilliant.org/TheB1M or by clicking
5:02 · the link in the description. The first 200 people to sign up will receive a 20% discount
5:07 · off their annual subscription.
5:09 · Now let's get back to the bridge. If all the engineering challenges have been solved,
5:18 · why hasn't it been built and why can't we show you what it's going to look like?
5:23 · Well, while the bridge is a masterclass in
5:25 · how the power of engineering can seemingly overcome any challenge,
5:29 · it's also a cautionary tale in how politics can turn the possible into the impossible.
5:35 · Many Italians are weary about the prospect of the bridge being built, which is no surprise
5:40 · as the project has been kicked around like a political football for decades.
5:45 · Ok, let's try and do this as quickly as possible:
5:48 · In 1969, a design competition kicked off the official interest to build the bridge.
5:52 · It got passed around for a while until the official Messina Strait Company was
5:56 · set up in 1981. Preliminary work dribbled around for a couple of decades until 2005,
5:59 · when it was passed to an official consortium featuring architects Dissing + Weitling,
6:03 · engineers COWI and construction firm Impreglio – now Webuild.
6:06 · They crossed it to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and planned to start work the next
6:09 · year, but in May 2006 Berlusconi was kicked out of office and in October the plan was struck down by
6:13 · the Italian parliament. But, by 2008, Berlusconi was back in power and the bridge was back on.
6:17 · But Berlusconi only lasted three years in office and in 2011 the bridge was once again axed by his
6:22 · successor Mario Monti. But then in 2016 Monti's successor's successor Matteo Renzi intercepted the
6:26 · project and promised to reconsider, but forgot all about it and the bridge went out of play.
6:29 · In 2020 the bridge was thrown back in by another PM, Giuseppe Conti. Things didn't
6:32 · look good when in 2021 his government collapsed and a year later in 2022 when his successor's
6:37 · government also collapsed. But earlier this year, sweeping in from the far right,
6:40 · is new PM Giorgia Meloni and transport minister Matteo Salvini who signed a decree ordering the
6:44 · bridge's construction and calling it "a historic day for Italy" and "the dream of millions".
6:49 · So the bridge is currently back with the government in Rome. In July,
6:54 · Salvini confirmed the bridge had been included in the 2024 budget but beyond that,
6:59 · details on the progress of the bridge are hard to come by.
7:02 · The Italian transport ministry didn't respond to our request for comment, and neither the Messina
7:07 · Strait company or construction company Webuild could add any further detail.
7:11 · Maybe people are afraid of jinxing it, but it seems like nobody wants
7:15 · to talk about the bridge. Our request for images was passed around various
7:19 · departments without any luck, hence we've had to improvise.
7:23 · Currently the bridge exists more in the public imagination than in reality. These
7:28 · images were created by this Sicilian architect to create a conversation about the mythology of
7:34 · the bridge – we're gonna come back to him later – and in this 2022 TV show,
7:39 · the bridge has already been built and destroyed.
7:44 · It's not hard to understand why people are nervous about it. The bridge is super
7:49 · controversial. At the last count the estimate for the bridge construction
7:52 · and support infrastructure on either side sat at USD $12.6BN.
7:58 · There's long been concern over whether the heavily indebted Italian Treasury
8:02 · could afford the bridge. And critics of the project say the could be better spent
8:07 · upgrading the region's notoriously poor existing road infrastructure.
8:11 · "We have just driven nearly 400 kilometres with seemingly never ending stretches of roadworks"
8:18 · Others have also feared the role corruption could
8:20 · play in allowing organised crime groups to infiltrate the project.
8:24 · But for the bridge's
8:28 · supporters it's about more than the estimated €2.9 billion a year it will add to the Italian economy
8:34 · A bridge between Sicily and Italy is an ancient dream that dates back to Roman times.
8:41 · Imagining connecting these two lands would mean demonstrating that technology has reached high
8:49 · levels of efficiency, because the Messina bridge would be the largest ever built in the world.
8:56 · I think the Messina bridge would be a great engineering pride for Italy.
9:01 · This is Adriano Marchisciana, a Sicilian architect who designed his own version of the bridge,
9:08 · to increase a sense of national pride and add to the mythology of this place.
9:13 · My design proposal was born as a search for a relationship with the mythological memory
9:20 · of the site. Homer tells us that two gigantic monsters, Scylla and Caribdi,
9:27 · lived in the Strait of Messina. They tormented the navigators who passed through that place.
9:34 · Finding a relationship with history and myth means giving meaning to this enormous work,
9:42 · which in any case will have a great impact on the landscape.
9:48 · It remains to be seen whether this latest attempt to build the bridge will succeed
9:53 · but it's safe to say its legend isn't going anywhere any time soon.
9:58 · This video was sponsored by Brilliant. You can join them with a special offer at the link below.
10:03 · Don't forget that we're inspiring the next generation of builders
10:06 · through our investment into Brick Borrow, a fantastic lego subscription service. You
10:11 · can learn more and get started today over at brickborrow.com
10:14 · And as always guys, if you enjoyed this video and you want to get more from the
10:19 · definitive video channel for construction, make sure you're subscribed to The B1M.

Transcript
0:00	·	This is the Strait of Messina, a thin strip of water which separates Sicily
0:04	·	from mainland Italy ... and this is the Strait of Messina bridge.
0:10	·	When completed it will turn a 40 minute ferry journey into just a four minute drive. In doing
0:16	·	so, it could make Sicily a global supply chain hub, create an unbroken highway
0:21	·	across a continent and transform the economy of Italy's historically poorer southern half.
0:28	·	But, not all is as it seems ... This isn't actually the official bridge design. We
0:34	·	weren't able to get permission to show you the real one. And even though there
0:37	·	was a big announcement about it back in March, no-one has been willing to talk to us about it.
0:42	·	It's almost like there's an omerta over the bridge which has become an icon of failure in Italy.
0:51	·	But despite this, there are hushed whispers that the bridge,
0:54	·	which was first put forward in Roman times, could finally go ahead,
0:58	·	or could it be that this infamous stretch of water is a bridge too far?
1:03	·	This is the strange story of one of Italy's most controversial structures.
1:13	·	Here at The B1M we know what it takes to construct a megaproject. Build something
1:18	·	of any considerable size and you'll usually run into one of two problems: the fiendishly complex
1:23	·	engineering of something like the Fehmarn Belt tunnel, or the intractable politics of the kind
1:28	·	that has derailed Britain's HS2. The Strait of Messina Bridge has run into both of them.
1:33	·	We'll come to the politics in a bit, but first the engineering. The current design
1:38	·	for the Messina Strait Bridge is nothing if not ambitious.
1:41	·	This stretch of water gave birth to the legend of Scylla and Charibdys,
1:45	·	the mythological monsters that smash ships against rocks and drown sailors in whirlpools.
1:50	·	As you might guess, that came around because the Strait of Messina is a violent stretch of water.
2:01	·	It has two alternative currents strong strong enough to rip seaweed from the
2:06	·	seabed and can experience gales up to 100 kilometres per hour.
2:10	·	And if that wasn't enough, it also lies right in the middle of the fault line
2:15	·	between the African and Eurasian tectonic plates.
2:18	·	In 1908, the strait was at the epicentre of a 7.1
2:22	·	magnitude earthquake which killed up to 82,000 people.
2:26	·	So, how on earth do you build a bridge here?
2:30	·	Well, we can't show you the official designs – we'll come
2:33	·	to that shortly – but don't worry because we've drawn it instead.
2:37	·	The plan is for a single span suspension bridge running from
2:40	·	Torre Faro in Sicily to Villa San Giovanni on the Italian mainland.
2:44	·	The single span solves the first issue the bridge faces,
2:48	·	by not placing a pier in the strait, it saves the team having to contend with strong
2:53	·	currents during construction and removes any obstacles to shipping once complete.
2:57	·	Placing the towers on shore also gives them a firmer footing to withstand seismic activity,
3:03	·	but to withstand an earthquake, more features are needed. The bridge will be fitted with a buffer,
3:08	·	allowing the deck to flex and the whole thing will be kept in place by
3:12	·	two anchors containing over five and a half million cubic metres of concrete and steel.
3:17	·	But while that solves the issue of currents and quakes,
3:20	·	it actually creates another problem: this bridge is gonna be enormous.
3:25	·	When it's completed this will easily be the longest suspension bridge in the world,
3:30	·	beating the current title holder, Turkey's Çanakkale Bridge, by over a kilometre.
3:35	·	That leaves a huge area exposed to the strait's famously extreme winds. One
3:41	·	way this is being compensated for is with an innovative deck design.
3:45	·	Instead of one single deck, the bridge will comprise three separate boxes,
3:49	·	two for roads and one for rail. These will be reinforced by crossbeams every 30 metres.
3:55	·	The shallow wedge of the boxes deflects oncoming wind and pushes it up through the gaps in between.
4:00	·	That's gonna help the bridge survive wind speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour.
4:07	·	Now, before we get into what the bridge actually looks like, you should know that for any architect
4:12	·	or an engineer designing something like this, they need a good knowledge of a range of STEM subjects.
4:16	·	But don't worry if you've struggled learning these through traditional schooling. There's
4:21	·	actually a really fun and easy way to learn about STEM for free to start.
4:24	·	A good grasp of calculus is essential for any engineer. This week's video sponsor, Brilliant,
4:30	·	has courses that easily break down complex concepts into quick, easy to follow lessons.
4:35	·	It's a great way of visualising problems and solutions, such as
4:39	·	understanding formulas for scaling up shapes.
4:41	·	But if calculus isn't your thing then don't worry, Brilliant has thousands of lessons
4:46	·	over widely different subject areas like probability and computer science,
4:51	·	all of which are great for helping you level up your career or setting yourself a new challenge.
4:56	·	To get started, try a free 30 day offer by visiting brilliant.org/TheB1M or by clicking
5:02	·	the link in the description. The first 200 people to sign up will receive a 20% discount
5:07	·	off their annual subscription.
5:09	·	Now let's get back to the bridge. If all the engineering challenges have been solved,
5:18	·	why hasn't it been built and why can't we show you what it's going to look like?
5:23	·	Well, while the bridge is a masterclass in
5:25	·	how the power of engineering can seemingly overcome any challenge,
5:29	·	it's also a cautionary tale in how politics can turn the possible into the impossible.
5:35	·	Many Italians are weary about the prospect of the bridge being built, which is no surprise
5:40	·	as the project has been kicked around like a political football for decades.
5:45	·	Ok, let's try and do this as quickly as possible:
5:48	·	In 1969, a design competition kicked off the official interest to build the bridge.
5:52	·	It got passed around for a while until the official Messina Strait Company was
5:56	·	set up in 1981. Preliminary work dribbled around for a couple of decades until 2005,
5:59	·	when it was passed to an official consortium featuring architects Dissing + Weitling,
6:03	·	engineers COWI and construction firm Impreglio – now Webuild.
6:06	·	They crossed it to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and planned to start work the next
6:09	·	year, but in May 2006 Berlusconi was kicked out of office and in October the plan was struck down by
6:13	·	the Italian parliament. But, by 2008, Berlusconi was back in power and the bridge was back on.
6:17	·	But Berlusconi only lasted three years in office and in 2011 the bridge was once again axed by his
6:22	·	successor Mario Monti. But then in 2016 Monti's successor's successor Matteo Renzi intercepted the
6:26	·	project and promised to reconsider, but forgot all about it and the bridge went out of play.
6:29	·	In 2020 the bridge was thrown back in by another PM, Giuseppe Conti. Things didn't
6:32	·	look good when in 2021 his government collapsed and a year later in 2022 when his successor's
6:37	·	government also collapsed. But earlier this year, sweeping in from the far right,
6:40	·	is new PM Giorgia Meloni and transport minister Matteo Salvini who signed a decree ordering the
6:44	·	bridge's construction and calling it "a historic day for Italy" and "the dream of millions".
6:49	·	So the bridge is currently back with the government in Rome. In July,
6:54	·	Salvini confirmed the bridge had been included in the 2024 budget but beyond that,
6:59	·	details on the progress of the bridge are hard to come by.
7:02	·	The Italian transport ministry didn't respond to our request for comment, and neither the Messina
7:07	·	Strait company or construction company Webuild could add any further detail.
7:11	·	Maybe people are afraid of jinxing it, but it seems like nobody wants
7:15	·	to talk about the bridge. Our request for images was passed around various
7:19	·	departments without any luck, hence we've had to improvise.
7:23	·	Currently the bridge exists more in the public imagination than in reality. These
7:28	·	images were created by this Sicilian architect to create a conversation about the mythology of
7:34	·	the bridge – we're gonna come back to him later – and in this 2022 TV show,
7:39	·	the bridge has already been built and destroyed.
7:44	·	It's not hard to understand why people are nervous about it. The bridge is super
7:49	·	controversial. At the last count the estimate for the bridge construction
7:52	·	and support infrastructure on either side sat at USD $12.6BN.
7:58	·	There's long been concern over whether the heavily indebted Italian Treasury
8:02	·	could afford the bridge. And critics of the project say the could be better spent
8:07	·	upgrading the region's notoriously poor existing road infrastructure.
8:11	·	"We have just driven nearly 400 kilometres with seemingly never ending stretches of roadworks"
8:18	·	Others have also feared the role corruption could
8:20	·	play in allowing organised crime groups to infiltrate the project.
8:24	·	But for the bridge's
8:28	·	supporters it's about more than the estimated €2.9 billion a year it will add to the Italian economy
8:34	·	A bridge between Sicily and Italy is an ancient dream that dates back to Roman times.
8:41	·	Imagining connecting these two lands would mean demonstrating that technology has reached high
8:49	·	levels of efficiency, because the Messina bridge would be the largest ever built in the world.
8:56	·	I think the Messina bridge would be a great engineering pride for Italy.
9:01	·	This is Adriano Marchisciana, a Sicilian architect who designed his own version of the bridge,
9:08	·	to increase a sense of national pride and add to the mythology of this place.
9:13	·	My design proposal was born as a search for a relationship with the mythological memory
9:20	·	of the site. Homer tells us that two gigantic monsters, Scylla and Caribdi,
9:27	·	lived in the Strait of Messina. They tormented the navigators who passed through that place.
9:34	·	Finding a relationship with history and myth means giving meaning to this enormous work,
9:42	·	which in any case will have a great impact on the landscape.
9:48	·	It remains to be seen whether this latest attempt to build the bridge will succeed
9:53	·	but it's safe to say its legend isn't going anywhere any time soon.
9:58	·	This video was sponsored by Brilliant. You can join them with a special offer at the link below.
10:03	·	Don't forget that we're inspiring the next generation of builders
10:06	·	through our investment into Brick Borrow, a fantastic lego subscription service. You
10:11	·	can learn more and get started today over at brickborrow.com
10:14	·	And as always guys, if you enjoyed this video and you want to get more from the
10:19	·	definitive video channel for construction, make sure you're subscribed to The B1M.