The Italian government’s Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport (MIT) (Rome, Italy) recently issued a decree to establish a special commission to carry out technical checks and analysis on the collapse of the Viaduct Polcevera roadway in Genoa, Italy.
The viaduct, which collapsed on August 14, 2018, is also known as the Morandi Bridge.
According to the ministry, the commission is the first step taken to shed light on the fatal accident. As part of the probe, the commission is examining possible violations by Autostrade per l'Italia (Rome, Italy), the management group responsible for the security and maintenance of the road.
The inspection commission composed of technicians, professors, and experts, has already started work to establish the causes and circumstances of the collapse, according to the ministry. The commission is expected to provide the ministry with a report on the facts of the accident in September 2018.
As part of MIT’s decree, Autostrade per l'Italia is being required to release all pertinent documents while providing the commission with any information related to the potential root cause. The commission is currently working on a reconstruction of the accident.
Danilo Toninelli, the nation's minister of infrastructures and transport, says the government is taking immediate action to start maintenance work and improve the safety of viaducts, as well as their monitoring through sensors.
“Almost all of them, built between the 1950s and 1970s, need ordinary maintenance," Toninelli says in a statement. "This is something in which the government must put money in order to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again. As an Italian citizen, I regret to note that such maintenance has not been made, as the tragic facts in Genoa remind us."
Source: Italy's MIT, mit.gov.it/en.