The first steps were taken yesterday on the Bailey bridge built between the historic center and the Borgo. The structure, built in 50 days after its components landed in Faenza on 29 February, was inaugurated by the post-flood reconstruction commissioner Francesco Paolo Figliuolo, accompanied by the regional vice-president Irene Priolo and the mayor Massimo Isola. “This is one of the many signs of restart that we have around us – explained the commissioner immediately before the ribbon cutting –. With this structure we have recreated a vehicular connection between the center and the Borgo, while waiting to restore the Grazie bridge”. In the meantime, as Figliuolo wanted to highlight, the compensation machine is grinding out its first miles: “I have already signed the first disbursements for reimbursements to private individuals affected by the floods. We have so far reimbursed 50% of what was recognized; with the new ordinance we will reach 100% %, and we will also eliminate the restrictions on free construction. What we have behind us may seem like an infinite amount of time to the flood victims, but I feel like saying that having the bank transfer in hand after nine months is no small thing.” All eyes are now on the Grazie bridge, where traffic in the east-west direction resumed yesterday: “The new bridge will take an ‘average’ amount of time. However, the intervention is perimeter-based, the funds are included in the ordinances”. Many details still need to be defined, starting from the physiognomy of the bridge, which as can be seen today stands two and a half meters closer to the riverbed than its Bailey counterpart: too many in light of the new findings expected from the basin authority. But raising the height of a similar structure is not simple, due to the slopes that it would create in Corso Europa and Corso Saffi, where ramps similar to those temporarily active serving the panel bridge are not imaginable: therefore the possibility of demolition of the pylons that rise from the riverbed, to create a single span bridge, under which larger volumes of water can flow than the current ones.
Meanwhile, the first vehicles were crossing the Bailey bridge: first that of the local police, followed by the fire brigade’s tanker. A car that weighs fourteen tons when fully loaded: the weight limit of ten tons (which drops to 3.5 for the Ponte delle Grazie) does not in fact apply to emergency vehicles. A speed limit of 30 kilometers per hour is in force on both bridges. Together with Figliuolo, a large group of citizens walked across the bridge, led by the Civil Protection of the Union of Romagna Faenza, and which also included some flood victims’ committees, including that of the Borgo. “Having the new bridge is better than not having it, but we would also like answers in an acceptable timeframe regarding the state of the Marzeno – points out Wilmer Dalla Vecchia, of the Borgo committee – for example on the front of any controlled flooding areas of via Cimatti, to protect of our neighborhood.” Also present were the residents of Via Casale, promoters of a signature collection asking to rearrange the embankments – actually classified as ‘protection embankments’ – which separate their homes from the Senio. What was feared could take on the tone of a protest actually turned out to be a calm confrontation between the residents and the commissioner structure, which reiterated how the interventions will be carried out as soon as the basin authority’s study clarifies the nature of the area in question. The commissioners did not close the doors to any hypothesis: “That area could be recognized as floodable, and relocations of residents could be necessary, for which ad hoc legislation already exists.” The committees received the response soberly: at the end of the meeting some of them even asked Figliuolo to pose for a photo together.
Filippo Donati
