The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport allocates 591.6 million euros to the completion of 8 road and railway works already included in the Olympic Works Plan. The resources come from Investment Fund of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and were assigned, at the request of Minister Matteo Salvini, to 5 interventions in Lombardy and 3 interventions in Veneto. The construction sites left half-finished after Milan-Cortina 2026, therefore, will have the financial coverage necessary to reach completion.
Five works in Lombardy for 287.6 million
On the Lombardy side, the MIT intervenes with a package of 287.6 million against a total value of the interventions exceeding 673 million. The difference is covered by other resources already allocated. The 5 works are:
- Vercurago variant, S. Gerolamo lot – 94.3 million euros financed out of a total cost of 253.3 million;
- artificial tunnel lot 2 in Ponte di Legno – 59.7 million out of a cost of 62.6 million, the highest Investment Fund share in percentage;
- Trescore-Entratico variant, lot 2 in the municipality of Entratico – 53.3 million out of a total of 186.9 million;
- redevelopment of the Busto Arsizio-Gallarate-Cardano junction – 48.9 million out of 105 million;
- Milan-Tirano railway line, suppression of level crossings on the SS38 – 31.5 million out of 66 million.
Three interventions in Veneto, the bulk on the Cortina variant
In Veneto the MIT allocates 304 million of the Investment Fund against a total value of the interventions exceeding 985 million. The 3 works are concentrated on the Dolomite road axis, around Cortina d’Ampezzo and Longarone:
- Cortina variant, lot 2 on the SS51 to the north – 259.9 million out of a total cost of 483.2 million, the single highest item in the package, dedicated to road tubes, tunnels and defense works;
- Longarone variant – 43 million out of a total of 438.9 million, the bulk of the resources were already available;
- Cortina variant, lot 1 southern penetration link – 1.1 million out of 63.3 million, intervention covering almost entirely outside the Fund.
The infrastructural legacy of the Olympics
The 8 works are part of Olympic Works Planthe package of infrastructure interventions linked to the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Games, which were designed to remain available to the territories even after the event.
Minister Matteo Salvini, in a statement released by MIT, claims the material legacy of the recently concluded Olympic edition:
The Olympics, in addition to being a success recognized worldwide, will leave a legacy of works and structures for all citizens.
The reference is to the double track on which Olympic planning has been based since the beginning: essential interventions to support the mobility of the Games and, in parallel, infrastructures designed to remain in operation in the following decades.
The most significant portion of the package, that on the SS51 axis north of Cortina, concerns one of the busiest crossing routes in the eastern Alps, on which construction work will continue beyond the end of the Olympics.
Confirmation therefore arrives for the citizens of Veneto and Lombardy that, 4 months after the conclusion of the Games, the financing of the works did not stop at the event.
