One day you'll be able to drive from Italy to Sicily over the world's longest suspension bridge

The Italian government finally looks likely to sign off on a road link between Sicily and the mainland.

The 3,300-metre long bridge would become the longest single-span suspension bridge on the planet and would be able to cope with as many as 6,000 road vehicles per hour and 200 trains per day.

The superlatives don’t stop there as the Messina Strait bridge would also become the tallest in the world, with its pylons reaching 380 metres and dwarfing those of France’s Millau Viaduct. The bridge will be so tall, in fact, that even the biggest of ships will be able to sail right underneath.

It currently takes around two hours by ferry to get from Sicily to Italy and the bridge would cut that to just ten minutes and would be the first time in 2,000 years that it will be possible to make the crossing without a boat. In 250 BC the Romans are said to have transported 100 elephants from Palermo to Rome, building a makeshift bridge from barrels and wooden planks. The new route will be somewhat more sophisticated and is estimated to cost more than €8bn. It’s also likely to take the best part of a decade to build so followers of the famous Targa Florio route will be on the ferry for some time to come.

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