Strait of Messina crossing by submerged floating tunnels ι Environmental issue of the Eni floating tunnels

Together with the technical engineering of the Messina Strait crossing project, an environmental study has been carried out to incorporate into the project all the necessary measures to mitigate the impact of the opera on the environment. An Environmental Impact Assessment methodology has been applied to the Eni Messina Strait crossing to identify and characterise the potential interaction created by the project on the environment. The Study has analysed the project, the existing environment quality and the interactions between the project activities and the environment. The results show that major impacts could be caused during construction phase, due to depletion of benthos caused by excavation activities and due to the deep excavations for the underground railway stations construction. The study has furthermore given suggestions to minimise the environmental criticalities by mean mitigation measures taken by the project.