Demolition work began last week on the old Eugenio Monti bobsleigh track in Cortina d’Ampezzo, in the province of Belluno: it is the first phase of the construction site for the construction of a new, expensive and contested bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track in view of the 2026 Olympics which will be held in Veneto and Lombardy.
In the last two years, the construction of the new facility and services for teams, journalists and spectators had been questioned due to the high cost, the impact on the environment and the maintenance costs to be faced in the future, after the Olympics. The Italian Olympic Committee and the Veneto Region have always maintained that the new track could not be renounced, despite the considerable expense. Another problem was added to the many problems: the uncertainty about the opportunity to build the track has caused delays to accumulate which will have to be recovered quickly to respect the times imposed by the organization of the Olympics.
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The bulldozers are at work for the so-called “strip out”, a selective and controlled demolition technique. In essence, the old track, closed since 2008, is being demolished piece by piece to try to preserve as much as possible the morphology of the area, a large forest not far from the Ronco hamlet.
It is a rather long and expensive demolition: the works will last two months and the final cost is 2.2 million euros. For the construction site of the new sliding center, as the plant is defined, much more money will be needed. According to the most recent estimates, the runway and all associated services will cost a total of 93 million euros, but in early February, Veneto president Luca Zaia said costs could rise to 120 million euros. «It is an indispensable work, because it is iconic for Cortina», he said Zaia.
To understand how cost is a problem, just look at the initial forecasts. In the plan presented in the application, approximately 41 million euros were assumed for the demolition and reconstruction of the bobsleigh track. The Veneto Region earmarked 85 million euros which also included the construction of a “playful sports” park deemed essential to financially support the management of the track after the Olympics. The park project was later shelved. In the following years the costs increased, above all due to the increases in energy and materials prices. The final bill for the reconstruction of the runway alone is 61 million euros which will be guaranteed by the state and not by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
One of the straights of the track (photo from Il Post)
The commitment on the part of the Italian State and the consequent release of the CIO from expenses and possible new price increases are two factors that influenced the final decision to focus on the Cortina track. “We talked about it to the IOC and we agree on the solution proposed for cost and sustainability reasons, because this project will not impact the Games budget and the center will also be used after the Olympics”. he said last September Thomas Bach, president of the IOC.
Zaia has repeatedly justified the investment by explaining that the Olympics will ensure growth of the gross domestic product of one billion euros and will bring many other benefits, such as the construction of new roads. “The operation must be seen as a whole: it will bring visibility, international standing, and at least 3 and a half billion people will see the Olympics at an international level,” said Zaia. «It will obviously lead to a new course not only for Cortina but for all the Dolomites».
Another problem raised in recent years concerns the environmental impact. In fact, it is not enough to adapt the current track, which dates back to 1923 and which was lengthened for the 1956 Olympics. The layout will be largely new. The changes are necessary to comply with the security measures required by the international federation. Many of the curves that have made the Eugenio Monti track famous will have to be widened to slow down the bobsleigh race and especially the sledges and skeletons, a specialty in which the athletes’ bodies are stressed by considerable acceleration. Many of the trees along the route will be cut down to allow for the work, even though the organization has ensured that it wants to save as many trees as possible.
The overall costs also include the upgrading of the road system to reach the track, an environmental redevelopment project in the Ronco area and the creation of a widespread multimedia memorial to commemorate the 1956 Olympics.
In the last two years civic associations of Cortina and environmental organizations had organized demonstrations, promoted polls and collected signatures to ask not to build the new runway in Cortina. The associations appreciated the decision not to build the speed skating rink in Baselga di Piné, in the province of Trento, due to high costs. «A similar approach should also be taken for other Olympic venues, in particular the bobsled track», they wrote Italia Nostra, Legambiente, Lipu and Mountain Wilderness. «The competitions of these disciplines should be moved to Igls, near Innsbruck, to save on construction costs which have risen to 85 million euros and which are estimated to exceed 100 million».
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The IOC and the president of Veneto Luca Zaia had also discussed the possible moving of the races to Innsbruck, who in the autumn had written to CONI, the Italian Olympic committee, to ask for a definitive decision on the Cortina track. The committee had replied that the organization of the competitions outside Italy would not have been compatible with the Olympics, effectively supporting the position of the Region, which has always been convinced of redoing the track in Cortina. A second alternative, in addition to Innsbruck, could have been the recovery of the Cesana Torinese track, in Val di Susa. Costing 110 million euros, it was built for the 2006 Turin Olympics and closed a few years later, in 2011, due to very high maintenance costs. To renovate and reopen it has been estimated a cost of 15 million euros. But also in this case it was decided to hold the tenders in Veneto.
The biggest problem, as evidenced by the rapid closure of the Cesana Torinese track, concerns the future, namely the maintenance costs of the facility after the end of the Olympics. The Italian athletes of bobsleigh, luge and skeleton are few, 38 according to the most recent estimates. Keeping the track open involves considerable energy and personnel costs: at the moment in Cortina it is not clear how these costs will be covered, therefore how to keep the facility open so as not to abandon it as happened in Cesana Torinese. The Veneto Region has already planned and set aside 8 million euros, 400 thousand euros a year, to cover expenses for the next 20 years. The autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano could also contribute to the expenses for at least 15 years, as written in a letter of intent signed in 2019, but since then there has been little talk of that document even in Trentino-Alto Adige.
Finally, there is the question of the runway construction times, which must be tightened due to the delays accumulated over the last two years. The track must be operational by December 2024 for the so-called test event, i.e. the test races that are usually held at least a year before the Olympics.