MILAN, April 11, 2020 – Genoa’s Archbishop, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, expressed his closeness to the workers involved in the construction of the new bridge for Genoa during Easter weekend. At a prayer service held at the site where Salini Impregilo (Webuild) and Fincantieri in a joint-venture are developing the project, Bagnasco blessed them for their unity and sense of responsibility during the national health emergency caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) as they near the completion of the bridge. Genoa Mayor Marco Bucci, who is also the project’s extraordinary commissioner, Liguria Governor Giovanni Toti and Nicola Meistro, Chief Executive of the PerGenova joint-venture and an Operation Manager at Salini Impregilo, were present.

Cardinal Bagnasco gave his blessing to the managers, technicians and workers that have been keeping up a high productivity rate to complete the structure within a tight timeframe – all the while respecting extraordinary safety measures. Their relentless pace of work, done with a strong sense of commitment, saw the installation of another part the bridge’s deck, bringing its length to more than 930 metres with yesterday’s setting of a 35-metre section between Piers 1 and 2.

Work is going ahead on the highway access ramp as well as the complex operations to prepare the base of the deck: the pouring of 8,000 cubic metres of concrete, which will be done at various parts along the structure contemporaneously, going from the two ends of the deck towards the centre.

All of these activities are being done in parallel in order to deliver to Genova and its residents their bridge within the allotted time.

The extraordinary measures being deployed at the construction site include the measuring of the body temperature of every worker who enters the site, the distribution of masks and hand sanitisers, the enforcement of the safe distance rule, the cleaning and disinfection of work sites and common areas, and the reduction in the number of people who can travel in the same vehicle to and from the site. These measures are but a summary of what has been adopted at the site, much like those at sites elsewhere in the world operated by the Salini Impregilo Group as it confronts the emergency along with a 500-person strong task force operating at the global level.

The bridge under construction is illuminated every evening at 8:30 p.m. with three lasers beaming the colours of the Italian flag to create a Bridge of Light to express Salini Impregilo’s solidarity with the country and transmit to Genoa a message of hope for the future.