A hundred years ago it was born the Milan-Varese, first toll motorway in Italy, designed and built by the engineer Piero Puricelli. A legacy, in the great works that have transformed the territory, carried forward by Lombardy motorway concessions (Cal), a publicly held company established in 2007 with a joint initiative between the Government and the Region, with the aim of creating Brebemi, Pedemontana Lombarda and Milan External Ring Road (Tem), in addition to the most recent project of the Treviglio-Bergamo. A network that currently has 135 kilometers of new motorways in operation plus a further 110 kilometers of ordinary roads and compensatory works, created with a “non-centralised” model which is “a unique case” at a national level. A model, explains the lawyer Cristiana Molin, President of Cal since 2022, which “must be valorised and could also be exported to other entities on the national territory”. In the offices at Palazzo Lombardia, 36 employees, with an average age of 44, mostly technical figures, work to design the future of Lombardy’s roads.
What is the advantage of this model inaugurated in 2007?
“We are a unique case because in our field, besides us, the only grantors at a national level are the State and the Emilia Romagna and Veneto Regions. We have the Government and the Lombardy Region as direct interlocutors, with the advantage of being present in the territory where the works are built and to be able to follow the procedures step by step with a high degree of specialization. A model which, thanks to autonomous management, allows us to achieve an efficiency that is difficult to find in other realities, to deliver projects in advance or. in line with the timetable, while the use of project financing (technique for financing a project in which the compensation for the private individual is guaranteed by the management of the work, ed.) allows public spending to be limited to 30-35%, without considering the advantages due to tax revenue”.
Every great work, like Pedemontana, has an impact. How to find a balance between the need to carry out a project and the legitimate demands of the territory?
“Our method is that of dialogue and listening to the territory, to the sensitivities of citizens and local authorities. A work must not be against the territory but in favor and, once completed, it brings advantages for everyone. Let’s think, for example, of the time saved in reaching the workplace when a new road is built. For this reason, even compensation works cannot be imposed from above but must be agreed upon with the territory”.
Will the Pedemontana be completed by 2030?
“The hope is to complete the work by 2030, and we will be able to meet the deadlines. On sections B2 and C the approval phase is finally being concluded and work will begin shortly. The works on that section have already started prodromal works, such as the removal of war explosives. Section D, however, is still in the approval phase. The acceleration that has occurred recently gives us hope that the deadlines will be respected”.
How are the works related to the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics progressing?
“On the Olympics, leaving the perimeter of the streets for the first time, we are working towards the construction of the Bormio Ski Stadium. The end of the works is scheduled for October 2025, ahead of the start of the Games”.
In terms of traffic, on the highways of your network, have flows returned to pre-Covid levels?
“The flows exceed the levels of 2019 and smart working, from our observatory, has not led to a reduction in travel. On Tem, for example, in the first five months of 2024, compared to the same period of 2023, there was a traffic increase of 5.3%, with an increase in revenue of +8.14%. The growth trend is also confirmed on Pedemontana, with an increase in traffic of 1.44% and an average daily traffic which stands at 25 thousand vehicles, also recording a significant growth of 4.2% in Brebemi”.
