It took over ten million to recover the Fortress and put it back in the center of the city. At least as many will be needed to complete the last major junction on the ring road and loosen the grip of traffic. The endless well of Via Fiorentina continues to swallow gold coins. Yesterday the announcement of a further budget change: robust. It will cost 2 million and 340 thousand euros more. But the turning point among the protests heats up the city council: and at the time of the vote the quorum fails, not even the majority can guarantee it. And with Via Fiorentina the entire budget change is postponed for now.
In the council, leading the pressure with their questions are Alessandro Caneschi of the Democratic Party, who on the sidelines of the session announces a protest demonstration in the street, and Egiziano Andreani. The councillor, until a few months ago of the League, is now in the mixed group and one of the reasons for his exit from the majority groups was based on Via Fiorentina. He had pointed the finger at the underpass and its curvature rays, considered potentially dangerous. Councilor Marco Sacchetti, responsible for strategic interventions, responded that the sole manager was working on a change, essentially to soften that curve. Is this the cause of the new outbreak? Not only that, Sacchetti makes clear. “The matter is more complex: there are various aspects that contribute to the increase in financing. Work has restarted to free the subsoil from any interference. The structure of the project has not been changed but improved.”
In fact, the junction is a candidate for the most expensive public work in the history of Arezzo. It consists of two parts. A large roundabout, the radius of which had been widened towards the school field compared to the initial designs. And the underpass, lower than the ring road.
Solution designed to give direct access in all directions and divide the slower connections from the faster ones. The initial project was approved by the council in 2018 and involved a cost of 3,350,000 euros. That forecast has more than tripled. During construction, before the project rolled over to Sacchetti, a substantial deficiency had emerged in the provision of underground services, on which every intervention of this type relies. The price had already been rising. Among the interventions carried out, those related to water: the construction of the rainwater collector with pipe-pushing technology and that of a microtunneling for the sewerage of white water. A double move of one million euros which together with others had brought the investment to 6 million and 332 thousand euros. Another 700 thousand euros had been requested for the relocation of underground services. Now the final move.
From the opposition benches Marco Donati asks not to vote for it. “Traffic analyzes demonstrate that a roundabout would not have satisfied traffic needs. The appeal not to vote for the practice must be overturned because the Court of Auditors would ask us to account for the resources spent on underground services. I am confident in voting for the practice in these terms.”
But tranquility doesn’t pay: in the meantime the quorum is gone. The night of the last roundabout has just begun.
Lucia Bigozzi
