UDINE. Between January and April, there were 24 accidents with injuries to people on the A4, almost half of the 46 recorded in the same period of 2019. Effect of the interventions on the network and in particular of the kilometers of Third lane that were added to the first lot Quarto d ‘Altino-San Donà, in operation since the end of 2014.
The security issue, however, continues to cause concern. So much so that the commissioner Graziano Pizzimenti, in the role of implementing body, intervened via decree to move about fifty million euros of the financing for the works between the Palmanova node to the construction of a dozen new overpasses between the second and third sub-lot of the second lot, between San Donà, San Stino and Portogruaro, in order to eliminate as soon as possible the bottlenecks in the connection areas between the carriageway already with three lanes and the one with two lanes. The funnels that cause slowdowns, queues and accidents.
At the same time, Pizzimenti said, “the right to withdraw from the contract with the company Cmb, in difficulty with the continuation of the works in the Palmanova area, was exercised”. It is a kilometer and a half on which we will return to work later, while as regards the continuation towards Villesse, the arrival point of the original Third lane project, there is currently no forecast of any kind.
During the update in the Council Commission of the situation on the rest of the work by the president of Autovie Venete Maurizio Paniz and the director of the dealership Giorgio Damico, it emerged that about 44 of the 95 km of the entire Third lane have been completed so far. (therefore less than half, but with another 14 km “coming” in the coming months) and it was reiterated that to complete the Venetian sections, 440 million are needed.
“If the funding arrives between 2023 and 2026 – the words of Paniz -, the Third lane will also be taken beyond Portogruaro, otherwise the financial plan will have to count on tariff revenues, with inevitably longer times”.
To reduce revenues in recent months has been the health and economic emergency. Transit on the A4 in the pre-pandemic period recorded 47 million vehicles per year, with a daily average of 95,000 light vehicles and 36,000 heavy vehicles; with Covid, 34 million vehicles a year have risen, with a daily average of 64,000 light vehicles and 31,000 heavy vehicles. The drop affected the coverage of the financial plan, with toll revenues falling by 50 million in 2020.
Spending for the third lane remains estimated at a total of € 1.9 billion (according to the 2009 plan), but could undergo an upward revision due to the variation in prices and a containment of the auction rebates envisaged on tenders.
The certainty, in any case, is that no further tariff increases are on the agenda. With reference to the works already completed, Paniz recalled how the first Quarto d’Altino-San Donà lot is in operation, as well as the Alvisopoli-Gonars section, delivered a few months in advance.
It is in those kilometers of motorway that the most important infrastructure falls, namely the bridge over the Tagliamento, “twice the length of that of Genoa and costing less than half”. Two interventions are still in progress: the Portogruaro-Alvisopoli section at an advanced stage of construction will be completed by December 2022, therefore within the scheduled times; the Gonars-Palmanova is well advanced, with possible delivery by the end of 2021.
As regards the affair of the takeover of Newco Società Alto Aadriatico as concessionaire, a breach has opened on the quantification of the indemnity to be paid by the incoming concessionaire and to be paid to the outgoing one, a sort of spin-off since the Fvg Region is part Newco holds 67% and, via Friulia, holds just under 73% of the shares in Autovie.
As of December 31, 2019, that value was estimated at 476 million, but the ministry in January of this year restated the figure down to about 7 million. Hence the decision of Autovie to lodge an appeal before the Lazio TAR.
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