Sicilian bridge to go ahead
[link island with mainland]
Construction of a controversial suspension bridge connecting the Mediterranean island of Sicily to the Italian mainland will begin in three years' time and should be completed by 2010, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced.
The bridge will be five kilometres long and its central span - supported by four steel cables each nearly a metre-and-a-half in diameter - will measure over three kilometres.
It will rise 64m above sea level and will contain a double six-lane highway and four tracks for a new high-speed railway line planned to link the Sicilian capital, Palermo, with the rest of Italy.
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