World's largest suspension bridge OK'd

ROME, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Italy approved final funding Friday for what is expected to be the world's longest suspension bridge, linking Sicily to the Italian mainland, officials said.

Construction of the Messina bridge is expected to begin by the end of the year, ANSA, the Italian news agency, reported.

It will be about 12,000 feet long. It is intended to replace slow ferry service between the island and mainland, handling 200 trains a day and 4,500 cars an hour.

Money was approved eight years ago by Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, but the project was shelved when a more center-left government came to power, officials said. When Berlusconi returned to office in May, he approved the last key start-up funds, 1.3 billion euros ($1.9 billion), ANSA reported. The bridge is expected to cost 6.5 billion euros ($9.6 billion) upon completion in 2017.

Many support the bridge project for the jobs it will create. Others say it will bring Sicily and Italy closer psychologically, socially, and physically, ANSA said.

Environmentalists and those concerned about its safety oppose the bridge. There is also fear of possible Mafia involvement, ANSA said.