MESSINA – The regional parliamentarian Alessandro De Leo presented a question to the presidency of the Sicily Region and to the Infrastructure Department, urging an urgent solution to the lack of service areas and refreshment points on the A20 motorway, which connects Messina to Palermo . This fundamental artery for Sicilian traffic is currently equipped with only two operational service areas, a situation that generates significant inconvenience for motorists.
“Messina and Palermo – explains the deputy – are connected via the A20 motorway managed by the Consortium for Sicilian Motorways. The A20 extends for 183 km, from the Messina Sud Tremestieri barrier to the Buonfornello barrier, a point at which it merges with the A19 Catania – Palermo and in this stretch, in the Me – Pa direction, there are only three areas intended for refueling and to the refreshment of travellers. Today, following a fire which made one of the three areas present (Tindari Nord) non-operational, there are only two service areas which are 170 km away from each other, namely the service station called Divieto Nord which falls within the territory of the Municipality of Villafranca Tirrena and Caracoli Nord (A19), falling within the municipality of Termini Imerese (Pa). Although in our country there is no rule in force that determines what the maximum distance between service areas should be, we see a national average of 29 km of distance between the areas on Italian motorways”.
“Urgent and decisive action is needed”
De Leo underlines how the current situation represents a negative exception at a national level, with a distance between service areas that compromises the quality of the journey. “The distance between the service areas on the Messina – Palermo route is in fact unique at a national level,” he declared, highlighting how this situation is not up to national and European standards. The increase in vehicular flows expected for the summer season makes a decisive intervention even more urgent. Thousands of travelers will find themselves traveling along one of the main Sicilian arteries, counting on insufficient services. De Leo therefore urged the regional government and the Consortium for Sicilian Motorways (Cas) to promptly address the issue.
“The Messina-Palermo motorway managed by the Consortium for Sicilian Autostrade is a toll road and the scarcity of service areas in the section in question cannot be attributed to the closure of the Tindari Nord alone, as if the latter were also in operation , the distance would still be considerable (130 km)”, explained De Leo. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that the tenders for the currently abandoned service areas have been deserted. The Cas has considered the possibility of creating a subsidiary company to directly manage the service areas, a solution that De Leo asks to be carefully evaluated to verify its economic sustainability and implementation times.
“Situation not in line with national standards”
“The current situation is not in line with the standards present on national and European motorways, but above all it causes poor services to residents and tourists, contributing to causing damage to the image of the Sicily Region”, concluded De Leo, inviting the Region and the CAS to clarify. “To protect users of the A20 we want to know whether the solution feared by the Consortium regarding the creation of a subsidiary company or the direct management of the service areas is the optimal solution and whether it is economically sustainable, and what the timescales are for the definitive resolution” . De Leo’s request aims to guarantee an adequate service to all travelers traveling on the A20 motorway, restoring functionality to one of Sicily’s main communication arteries.
