Big data for safer smart roads during construction and maintenance and key elements of land redevelopment

Milan, December 15, 2023 - The Pedemontana Lombarda Highway, as it is known, is an environmentally friendly smart road and can provide innovative solutions during the construction phase, just as during the future management of the work, aiming at decongesting traffic on the Milan Ring Road and at redeveloping the area in general. The Webuild Group will build sections B2 and C of the project, which was presented today in Meda, in the province of Milan, with the attendance of Italian Vice-President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini; the President of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana; the Italian Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers with responsibility for CIPESS Alessandro Morelli; CAL CEO Gianantonio Arnoldi; the Chairman of Autostrada Pedemontana Lombarda Luigi Roth; and Webuild CEO Pietro Salini.

"A highway means innovation, sustainability and connectivity. And is also a growth factor for the area's economy. We are striving," Roth said, "to implement the new routes in a way that respects the territory and minimizes impacts, through a constant dialogue with institutions. The Pedemontana Lombarda Highway is a public project built for the public. It has unique characteristics, the most important of which that it is almost completely built underground, in tunnels and trenches. And we know that building it is a great responsibility."

"We need to rethink the infrastructure system by imagining Italy's needs of tomorrow," said Salini. We must design and build the infrastructure that will be needed in the next 30 years. Only then, can Italy and our industry be truly competitive.  There's a need for planning and design based on the goals each country wants to pursue. Innovation in urban and suburban transportation systems drives a new way of conceiving and designing transportation infrastructure. The Pedemontana Lombarda Highway falls into this type of work. Sections like the B2 and C ones, represent a new way of looking at the roads of the future: real smart roads for smart cities. The Pedemontana Lombarda Highway is a work created with citizens in mind. It makes way for a new way of interacting with the territories and nature and is an environmentally-friendly infrastructure that will stand as an example for other works. We have built 82,500 km of roads and highways globally. Each project was unique. And from these projects we learned the most innovative skills used in this area."  

The project will be built by a consortium led by Webuild (with a 70 per cent stake) with Impresa Pizzarotti (with a 30 percent stake). Sections B2 and C will be completed by 2026, involving a total investment of about €1.26 billion. The project will reach a peak of 1,500 people involved. 

Overall, the project involves the executive design and construction of about 26 kilometres of highway, with the aim of reorganizing road connections in the Varese-Como-Bergamo-Milan quadrant. Section B2 extends for approximately 10 kilometers connecting to the existing Section B1, winding between Lentate sul Seveso and Cesano Maderno. Section C stretches over 16 kilometers linking Cesano Maderno to Usmate-Velate. Both sections include trenches, embankments, tunnels and viaducts, ensuring efficient and modern road connectivity.

The Webuild Group, in northern Italy, is constructing numerous strategic projects for the development of TEN-T trans-European networks like the Terzo Valico dei Giovi-Genoa Junction One Project, a high-speed rail line between Genoa and Milan; the Verona-Padua HS line; and numerous lots of the Brenner Base Tunnel project, on the Munich-Verona strategic axis. In addition to the above-mentioned projects, Webuild is also working on the Fortezza-Ponte Gardena high-capacity railway line and the Trento Ring Road to connect the line to Fortezza and Trento respectively.