Everybody remembers in August 2018 the Polcevera Viaduct has collapsed and killed 43 people. It was in Italy. It was in Genoa. And it was maintained by motorway operator Autostrade per l’Italia.

Again another serious problem occured in Italy. In Genoa. And on an infrastructure maintained by Autostrade per l’Italia. This time it is a tunnel. It happened on December 30, 2019.

2 Tons of cement rubble fall down

Concrete lining blocks fell down in the Bertè tunnel.  Prosecutor filed a case on the detachment of more than 2 tons of cement from the vault of the Bertè tunnel in less than 48 hours. Since then, newspaper La Repubblica reported yesterday, at least three tunnels between junction of Genova Est and that of Genova Ovest present the same problems of water infiltration and in the past there have been falls of materials: Monte Galletto, Torbella and Monte Sperone. The report was made by the Traffic Police at the specific request of the chief prosecutor immediately after the collapse on Genoa-Gravellona Toce on December 30, 2019.

It was under the inspection of specialized companies

The management of the Primo Tronco di Genova declared that "the grouping of companies and a company specialized in tunnels have been entrusted with inspections both on the Bertè tunnel and on the area in which the detachment took place".

It is said that Autostrade had delegated the technical control of the tunnels to external specialized companies. The leader is Proger Spa, considered one of the most important Italian engineering companies, together with Tecno Lab and Tecno Piemonte, specialized in the certification of building materials; the French multinational Bureau Veritas is part of the temporary grouping of companies.

It is investigated. Maybe we will learn why this still happened even after such specialized companies took over the inspections.