Tunnels between Sestri Levante, Moneglia and Deiva reopen thanks to Proger’s technical contribution

After over three months of closure for safety reasons, the first tunnels connecting Sestri Levante, Moneglia and Deiva Marina have reopened to traffic. This result was made possible by the specialized work of Proger, commissioned for technical surveys and design of safety interventions on these narrow tunnels dating back to the late 1800s that wind along the rugged Ligurian coast.

The closure last March had created a situation of severe inconvenience for the seaside villages of the Riviera di Levante, leaving certain areas of the municipality of Moneglia particularly inaccessible and others reachable only through the less convenient inland roads. In a geologically and morphologically complex context with the presence of aquifers and active landslides, Proger’s technicians first intervened to conduct a careful program of structural investigations, according to the 2022 Tunnel Guidelines, which included both manual inspections through vault hammering and in-depth analyses with the support of laser scanner and georadar technology, never before performed on these infrastructures. The investigations covered six tunnels in the Municipality of Moneglia and 3 in the Municipality of Sestri Levante for almost 7 km of total length, revealing an articulated defectological framework, determined both by the age of the works and specific environmental factors, such as soil pressure upstream and marine erosion downstream.

Thanks to this precise diagnosis, Proger was able to design and implement, with its Construction Management, the most effective and timely short-to-medium term solutions, with cortical and sub-cortical interventions aimed at the fastest reopening of the most important tunnels, as agreed with local administrations and the Liguria Region, in addition to planning a second executive phase aimed at outlining the procedures and timelines for definitive safety measures or comprehensive structural renewal of the works.

On the occasion of the reopening, Moneglia Mayor Claudio Magro thanked all the companies involved, expressing “great satisfaction for having managed to complete this first phase of work in record time,” which restored normalcy to residents, economic operators and tourists of the Ligurian riviera, in time for the peak of the summer season.

“A success resulting from the great work carried out by our inspectors and designers, as well as the construction management team led by Laura Ghiglione” commented Ennio Gaia Maretta, Northwest Area Infrastructure Surveillance Manager at Proger. “The intervention highlights Proger’s ability to provide rapid and effective technical solutions in emergency situations and confirms the company as a reliable partner for public entities and critical infrastructure managers.”