Abstract
THE handling of the large import and export traffic of Genoa is a problem that has been studied by many Italian Governments. A satisfactory solution has now been found. A full description of the first section of the new motor road for heavy lorries (camions) called the Camionale is published in Engineering of June 28. The electrification of the railway from Genoa to Roneo over the Giovi mountain range in 1916 increased the capacity of the line more than four times. When this proved insufficient, a more direct electric railway was projected between Genoa and Arquata, necessitating the construction of a tunnel ten miles long through the Giovi mountains. The development of motor road transport and the success of the autostrada connecting Milan and Como, Naples and Pompeii, etc., created a new situation. The autostrada are characterised by the absence of practically all crossings and have minimum gradients and curves of long radius. No pedestrians are allowed on them. The new motor road, or Camionale, will ultimately join Genoa with Milan and Turin, and the projected electric railway has been abandoned. The Camionale starts from a large square near the Port of Genoa and traverses the Promontorio and Belvedere Hills by means of two long tunnels. After passing through many further tunnels, the road passes over the Montanesi torrent by means of a picturesque viaduct. In the Littorio tunnel, 2,926 ft. in length, the road reaches its highest altitude, 1,255 ft. above sea-level, at a distance of 13 miles from the terminal square at Genoa. The terminus at Serravalle Scrivia is 31 miles distant from Genoa. The geological conditions made the construction of the Camionale very difficult. The width of the road is 10 metres (32 ft. 10 in.). The total cost of construction of the Camionale is about 3J million sterling at the present rate of exchange.
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The Camionale Genoa-Serravalle for Lorry Traffic. Nature 136, 62 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136062b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136062b0