Closed bailey bridge, troubled roads in Belluno. Countermeasures are not enough

Vigilant in action in the traffic junctions, but at 18 still all in line in Lambioi. “Patience, the jobs are needed”

BELLUNO. Second day of passion in the city for traffic. The closure of the bailey bridge has also caused long queues tonight from the Maraga tunnel to the roundabout in via Lungardo, with the roads paralyzed. The first blockages occurred around 5 pm, when it took almost half an hour to walk through the tunnel that leads from Lambioi to via Lungardo. A driver who left Mussoi arrived in Limana after an hour and ten. At 6 pm a long snake of cars was in a column in front of the swimming pool, in the Lambioi car park, under the Conad tunnel.

The signs, placed this morning by the Municipality (which was responsible for this contract task) in the main junctions of the city road network (twenty-four hours from the closure of the bridge) have not been used: exit from work at the same time for most of the Belluno has led to queues and a certain amount of anger.

“The work must be done and it takes patience”, the commander of the local police, Roberto Rossetti, explained this morning after the first day of inconvenience. The lack of communication on the part of the Municipality, the lack of brigade to direct the traffic, the absent signage, ended under the accusation of the motorists in the queue. “Where should we have put the fighters?” Says Rossetti. “How many intersections are there? I think they would have created even more confusion, because motorists would have stopped to ask for information, blocking even more traffic ». And then: «The communication had been made, upstream».

True, in early November, when the bailey bridge maintenance plan was released. But three weeks later, someone may have forgotten. “We will verify why the closure communication has not come out, these are things that usually start automatically,” explains the mayor, Jacopo Massaro. “The fighters? I remember that I am understaffed, and I was told they were there on Monday evening. ‘

“The real problem is that everyone moves at the same time,” continues Rossetti. “And the streets are those, in the city. It takes patience, the rest of the work must be done ». Wasn’t it possible to do them at night? “No, these are processes that require light”, explains Massaro. “And then they would have cost a lot more and we are in a very difficult year in terms of budgetary resources. We are trying to keep the bailey bridge in operation: without these maintenance we risked having to close it ».

Even leaving at least one aisle open was not possible, continues Councilor Biagio Giannone: «The company must work at the unloading bridge. It is operating on the supports. We are talking about a metal infrastructure, which needs periodic maintenance ». The workers also carried out ultrasound checks on the bailey, repaired the damaged plates and checked all the bolting. The works will continue until 10 December.

In the meantime, today the mayor asked the local police to verify the possibility of opening via Alzaia at least after 5.30 pm, when the company suspends work on the bailey bridge, pto give motorists an alternative. The commander of the brigade, on the other hand, has developed a plan that provides for the presence of personnel in the crucial nodes for traffic, to “pull traffic”, as they say in jargon, or to speed up transit. The idea is to place the police at the Conad roundabout, and to move them as needed to other areas of the city. “We will also intervene at the traffic lights in via Miari, to extend the time for the green”, explained Rossetti this morning. But any countermeasure did little to avoid the queues.