Privately Financed Project Proposed for Road Connection in North MilanAt the conference "Underground roads: an opportunity to live better on the territory" held on 10th February, 2006 and organized by the Lombardy region's General directorate for infrastructure and mobility in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce and the Milan Polytechnic School, Gabriele Albertini - the mayor of Milan - said in a statement that the project for a road connection in north Milan had been declared of public interest and that it would be financed by the private sector. The project will be carried out at no cost to the taxpayer. A 60-year concession contract will be negotiated with the private investors (the promoter and the financial institutions), who will charge a toll to see return on their investment. The aim of the project is to improve mobility in north and northwest Milan, ease gridlocked traffic, bypass the Lancetti train stop and demolish the existing fly-overs along the Bacula-Monteceneri-Serra corridor.The project, proposed by Torno Internazionale, is a direct artery between highways A8 and A9 to the Alpine lakes and Repubblica/Garibaldi, which comprises an approx. 4 km twin-tube tunnel containing two 3.25 m lanes and an emergency lane per direction. For reasons related to the geological, hydrogeological and geotechnical characteristics of the subsoil and to the necessity to guarantee minimum subsidence at the surface, the main tunnel (section of 154 sq m) and the secondary ramps (section of 77 sq m) will be executed by EPB TBM.For security purposes, cross passages will be built between both tunnels (for vehicles each 900 m and pedestrians each 300 m) and equipment for ventilation and control of smoke propagation, fire detection and extinguishing (water-mist type), video monitoring, traffic control and toll collection will be installed.For the secondary connections, which will be constructed in a second phase, the link between Lotto Square and Jenner Boulevard will consist of three tunnels, one central from/to Certosa Boulevard and two lateral one-way tunnels for traffic from Scarampo Boulevard to Zara Boulevard and the Repubblica-Garibaldi zone.Construction should last five years for the direct artery and three years for the connecting roads. Tenders will be invited in three or four months and the city will select the successful bidder. Torno will have a right of preemption, by which it will either choose accept the low bid submitted by another candidate or pull out in exchange of financial compensation for the work done to design the project. Visit www.torno.com/english/english.html and www.trasporti.regione.lombardia.it 08/06.