Ionian 106 Highway - Mega Lot 3
38 kilometers that strengthen the Ionian Corridor
Start of works
May 2020
Progress status
28%
Data updated to March 2022
SDG Obiettivi di sviluppo sostenibile
Industry innovation and infrastructure
A key road project for the development of mobility in Southern Italy
The project of Mega lot 3 develops in the province of Cosenza: it starts from the junction between the Jonica state road and the state road 534, in Roseto Capo Spulico, to extend for 38 kilometers, alternating flat stretches with marine terraces and plateaus, interspersed with rivers.
The first 18 kilometers of the route develop along the Sibari plain and the remaining 20 cross the Apennine chain; therefore, it is necessary to excavate 5 kilometres of tunnels, in addition to building approximately 6 kilometres of viaducts with piles that are higher than 40 metres and spans up to 120 meters long.
The completion of Megalot 3 plays a particularly strategic important role, as the infrastructure belongs to the trans-European TEN-T network. The Ionian Corridor, thanks to this work, will undergo a real transformation, becoming a road infrastructure of great communication, with a dual function: connecting the Ionian coasts of Calabria, Basilicata and Puglia, while also acting as a hinge between the A3 motorway transport system and Puglia.
The project comprises, along its development, four junctions (Sibari, Cerchiara-Francavilla, Trebisacce and Roseto), 15 viaducts (of which eight, in mixed steel-concrete section, and seven in steel and orthotropic slabs), three natural tunnels and 11 artificial tunnels (mainly with prefabricated segment caps).
Technical data
Length (km)
38
Excavations (m3)
13,000,000
Concrete (m3)
1,533,460
Sustainability
The project is part of the economic recovery plan that starts from large infrastructure, which transform the face of the country, to prepare it for the future. The work has a profound value for those living in the area, both because about 60% of the people employed come from Calabria and also thanks to the landscape redevelopment works of the Archaeological Park of Sybaris, where observation points have been identified, and the perspectives of the foundations of ancient buildings have been restored.
The measures taken to reduce the project’s environmental impact include using prefabricated structures (i.e. the covers of artificial tunnels) which made it possible to avoid the different and greater impact due to the circulation of the concrete mixers; and the provision of a zero budget for managing excavated earth: they will in fact be used to build earthworks, like road embankments. In the end, of the 13 million cubic metres of planned excavated earth, only 250 thousand will remain, and will be stored in a definitive deposit
