Eight years later, the definitive Casaluna bridge finally put into service

It took almost eight years to rebuild the building. The new Casaluna bridge was officially inaugurated on Monday, to the great satisfaction of local residents. The old structure, two centuries old, was swept away by a flood in November 2016.

11am, Monday, September 16. Eight years after the collapse of the old building, local elected officials, businesses and government services are crossing the new Casaluna bridge together, opened to traffic this morning.

A relief for all the inhabitants of the Valley, first forced to take a diversion, then a temporary bridge with a single and extremely noisy no-traffic road.

“We had already been using the temporary bridge for eight years, with the noise and all the problems that it caused. It caused a lot of difficulties for farmers and local businesses. For local residents, since the temporary bridge was there, things had returned to normal, but at some point we had to have this new bridge, and I am delighted about it.“, says the mayor of Gavignano, Gilles Pasqualini.

How can such a construction delay be explained? The mayor calls for all the variables that came into play to be taken into account in this context.Any investment comes with its share of complications, there are studies, the river, endemic plants… It’s complicated. You shouldn’t think that everything is done in a day. I see it in my community: small projects take 3, 4 years. Here, this bridge, it took 8 years, but this time, it’s done and that’s the main thing. And that we can use it for years and years.“

As a reminder, in November 2016, the Casaluna bridge, dating from the 19th century, was swept away by an impressive flood caused by torrential rains.

The first question for the public authorities at the time was: could what remained of the structure be salvaged, or should a new bridge be built? It was ultimately this second option that was chosen by the Corsican Community, in charge of roads.

To build this new bridge, it took time but also money: 2.3 million euros of work, 70% financed by the State, to which must be added 1 million euros for the installation and rental of the temporary bridge.

Now closed to the public, the latter should be removed from next month.

The report by Jean-André Marchiani, Jérémy Leclanche and Bertrand Pasbecq: