Genoa bridge to open to traffic August 5

(ANSA) - GENOA, 23 LUG - Genoa's new motorway bridge replacing one that collapsed killing 43 people in mid-August 2018 will open to traffic on August 4, Mayor and reconstruction commissioner Marco Bucci and Liguria Governor Giovanni Toti announced Thursday.
    "We promised to restore it to the city as quickly as possible, when no one believed it," said Toti of the bridge that has been built in record tome for Italy.
    "We have always believed and it has been proved right: come on Liguria".
    Bucci noted that the most recent stress tests had all gone "very well".
    The Genoa San Giorgio Bridge will be inaugurated by President Sergio Mattarella two day earlier, on August 3.
    The deadly collapse of the Morandi Bridge on August 14 2018 has led to a deal whereby the Benetton group will gradually exit Italian motorway management.
    Benetton's Atlantia holding company will cut its stake in motorway company Autostrade per l'Italia (ASPI) to zero over the coming year.
    Government bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) will gradually build up a 51% stake in ASPI.
    ASPI will thus become a public company, quoted on the Milan bourse.
    The ruling anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) had vowed to eject clothing icons the Benettons from ASPI, blaming them for an alleged lack of maintenance that allegedly led to the bridge's collapse.
    The new bridge, built in just over a year, has been designed by Genoa native and starchitect Renzo Piano.
    It features sail-like structures, to reflect the northwestern port city's rich maritime heritage. (ANSA).