Stupino Bridge
Stupino Bridge
Viadotto Stupino
Carpanzano, Calabria, Italy
492 feet high / 150 meters high
394 foot span / 120 meter span
1974
Less famous than the nearby Italia viaduct, the Viadotto Stupino is the highest concrete beam bridge on Italy’s famous A3 motorway (now part of the A2 motorway). Crisscrossing several mountain ranges in southern Italy, the Salerno-Reggio Calabria was built in several sections throughout the 1970s and stretches 300 miles (483 kms) from Napoli to the tip of Italy’s boot near the island of Sicily. With dozens of tunnels and towering bridges, the current A2 is a showcase of Italian engineering with the greatest number of high bridges of any roadway in the world outside of China.
Rising 443 feet (135 mtrs) above its foundation, the bulky center pier of the Stupino viaduct assists in supporting two main spans of 394 feet (120 mtrs). Constructed by the cantilever method, both sides of each span were built outward from the tallest towers in equal size segments, keeping the weight evenly balanced on both sides until the spans met each other in the middle. A form traveler cast each segment of concrete and then waited for it to harden sufficiently enough to allow the traveler to move across it and repeat the process all over again.
Stupino Bridge satellite image.
Stupino Bridge location map.