ISI’s Italian partner, ICMQ, has awarded the Gronda di Genova project Envision Gold for sustainability. The project doubles a section of highway that passes through the Genoa region of Italy, from the Polcevera Valley to the town of Vesima, separating city traffic from heavy and transiting traffic, while connecting key interchanges along the route. This will allow for better flow and less congestion, and will support local economic growth.

The Gronda di Genova is a 4.25-billion $USD project that includes 13 new road bridges and the expansion of 11 existing viaducts. The region’s complex, mountainous terrain means that much of the new road system will be underground, a strategy that minimizes land consumption and reduces the impact on existing infrastructure. The project includes a total of 30 tunnels, accounting for a distance of approximately 50 km (more than 30 miles) — representing 81 percent of the new stretch of highway.

This Envision award confirms the results of a design that was carefully planned in collaboration with the community and aligned with national and international sustainability guidelines. The Gronda di Genova will improve traffic conditions — reducing travel time by 3.5 million hours per year for users of the highway and local road system in the Genoa area — but will also address multiple interrelated sustainability issues. These include land use conservation, sustainable use of resources for construction, engagement with stakeholders for project development, energy production from renewable sources, and careful design of green works.

The project also adds significant environmental mitigations that are tied to broader urban renewal goals. These involve final landscaping, civil arrangements, and renaturalization of slopes for the tunnel entrance areas, restoration of service roads and construction site areas, as well as initiatives for urban regeneration. These initiatives include the restoration of a depleted quarry area and two architectural restoration projects in the cemetery in Voltri and in the valley of the Leiro stream in Voltri.

Land excavated for the tunnels of the Gronda di Genova was used to fill the Calma Canal and expand the airport runway, known as the Opera a Mare. This newly constructed land now also hosts a photovoltaic park built to generate enough energy to power the Gronda and provide excess energy to the community.