The central pier of the Gorsexio Viaduct stands 172 metres tall, and for its top forty metres it is not a single shaft: it splits into two thin blades for each carriageway, so the structure stays flexible enough to absorb the movements of the deck. Below runs a stream almost nobody could point to on a map, the Gorsexio; above runs the A26 motorway, here also part of European route E25, exactly on the boundary between Genoa and Mele.
What to see
The viaduct is 672 metres long and rests on six spans of varying length, the three largest measuring 144 metres. Everything is reinforced concrete cast in place: the piers rose with climbing formwork, while the deck was built as a balanced cantilever, advancing into thin air from one pier to the next without falsework from the ground. The upper parts of the piers and the deck are prestressed concrete.
There are two decks, one per carriageway, each 13.05 metres wide; over the last 207.60 metres towards Alessandria the section widens to 16.55 metres to take the acceleration and deceleration lanes of the service area. The design is by the engineers Silvano Zorzi, Giorgio Grasselli and Enrico Faro of IN.CO., commissioned by Società Autostrade; the works went to CMC of Ravenna and ran from 1972 to 1978.
Visiting
This is not a monument with a ticket office: the Gorsexio is crossed, by car or by bus, on the A26 between Voltri and the inland valleys. The motorway opened to traffic on 11 August 1977 and on that date only the southbound carriageway of the viaduct was usable; the northbound one was completed and opened in June 1978. Drivers barely notice it, because the road surface runs straight; it is the passenger who, glancing sideways, sees the valley drop away between one pier and the next.
Our editors' tip
We suggest doing the same stretch again on state road 456 del Turchino, which passes through the centre of Mele: it is the route the motorway came to flank, it climbs in hairpins and takes far longer. Comparing the two alignments explains, better than any set of figures, what those six years of construction meant. And if you are travelling as a passenger, keep an eye on the piers: the paired blades are Silvano Zorzi's signature.