A 260-m long road bridge has collapsed in northern Italy on the Tuscany-Liguria border. At least 5 spans fell 10 metres into the bed of the Magra river.
Amazingly, no one was killed, or seriously injured. Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, only 2 cars were on the deck at the time. One man was flown to hospital with minor injuries and a second person escaped with no injuries.
The cause remains unknown but movement cracks at one of the deck joints were inspected in November and underwent cosmetic repair. The structure was deemed safe and reopened to traffic.
The bridge was built in 1908 and partially reconstructed after damage inflicted during WWII.
This is the third road bridge collapse in Italy in under 2 years. The Morandi bridge collapse killed 43 in August 2018 and a bridge collapsed in Liguria in November 2019 after a landslide.
These collapses sparked an uproar over the neglect of Italy’s decaying and dangerous infrastructure.
