Pedemontana, work has already begun

In Cassano Magnago, work on the “Pedemontana” motorway actually began a few days ago. The road yard opened at the end of last week for preparation of the area of, so-called, “kilometre zero”, a huge space, a short distance from the “Autolaghi” motorway, where a formal ceremony will be held, on Saturday 6 February, for the official beginning of work on the motorway. Via Giulio Pastore, which that branches off beside Via Bonicalza, and beside woods that surround the southern part of Cassano, is already a hive of activity, with the coming and going of trucks, and buckets and steamrollers working to broaden the road and to adapt it to the traffic it will take. In fact, this is the first work on the new motorway; preparation of the site will conclude on 19 February. And for entry No. 1 to the first site of construction of the “Pedemontana”, the work currently entails initial preparation of the area in which the slip road to the “Autolaghi” will be built (explore the map of the project, on the website of the company Pedemontana SpA). The pre-site activity in Cassano is the result of a more general infrastructural “rush”, which, when the ribbon is cut, with public events as the regional elections draw near, will remind us of how much has been done, and how much is being done to solve the problem of infrastructure in Lombardy. It is a part of the, so-called, “northern question”, which has always been discussed, amid disputes between the pro-development lobby and their critics, who are sensitive to the environmental problems of metropolitan, upper Lombardy, polluted and gripped as it is by terrible traffic, where the major routes never seem to suffice. 

Of the meetings planned over the next few days, we should mention one on Tuesday 26 January, at midday, in Malpensa (Terminal 1, conference room), where, coinciding with the arrival, in the airport, of the road show “La Lombardia che arriva” (“Lombardy on its way”), the chairman of the airport authority, Giuseppe Bonomi, and the regional councillor Raffaele Cattaneo are going to present the infrastructure work planned for Lombardy and, in particular, for Malpensa. On Saturday 30 January, completion of the laying of the railway underground in Castellanza will be marked with the ribbon cutting at the new “Northern Railways” station; and the tunnel under the Olona river, which has taken years of work, and considerable resources, will finally make the crossing of roads (particularly the Sempione freeway) by trains a thing of the past.

Finally, as mentioned above, 6 February has been chosen for the official beginning of work on the Pedemontana motorway, and all of the related work.