Sicily faces highway closure threat over safety concerns

Sicily is facing a critical infrastructure crisis as the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport has issued an ultimatum to the Consorzio per le Autostrade Siciliane (Cas). By October 3, urgent mitigation measures must be implemented on the A18 (Messina-Catania) and A20 (Palermo-Messina) highways to prevent a total ban on traffic due to safety risks.

Required immediate interventions include addressing degraded tunnel entrances, insufficient lighting, and faulty guardrails. These urgent works are estimated to cost 32.5 million euros. However, the Ministry has indicated that a long-term reorganization plan requiring 5.5 billion euros over ten years is necessary to address the structural decay of the network.

Regional President Renato Schifani has pledged to personally oversee the dossier, citing historical maintenance failures. Meanwhile, labor unions and transport workers have warned that failure to ensure safety and address financial crises within regional entities could lead to further social unrest and economic disruption for the island.