Italian State TV RAI 1 last October transmitted a two-part feature called La Strada Dritta to celebrate the golden anniversary of the opening of the Autostrada del Sole.

Incidentally, this occurred a couple of weeks after Malta celebrated the 50th anniversary of independence.

The feature, which they call a ‘fiction’, was not a documentary but was loosely based on the real thing and purported to show the human aspect of a number of protagonists and episodes involved in the unfolding of the eight-year saga (1956-1964) with its heroes and victims, its triumphs and failures and their impact on the families of those involved.

La Strada Dritta shows the Po crossing very realistically, with the floods endangering the caissons of the bridge piers and the dramatic attempts to save them. In the end, the completed bridge was proof-tested by a squadron of the heaviest tanks the army could provide.

Some Apennine landslides are also very dramatically shown.

Malta is not big enough for individual transportation

For me it struck a memory chord that sent me scurrying through my souvenirs, which are not kept too methodically.

The progettista capo of the Autostrada del Sole was Francesco Aimone Jelmoni who held the chair of roads, railways and airports at the Politecnico of Milan where, in 1958, I had attended the postgraduate corso di perfezionamento in highway and traffic engineering, when the autostrada was in its initial stages and we were taken on some site visits.

We had a very close relationship and Jelmoni treated me very kindly, perhaps because I was the youngest student in the course and one who had actually designed and built a flyover.

I had, in fact, completed the Portes-des-Bombes flyover in 1957, which he approved of and he was kind enough to help me with the project of the Blata-l-Bajda flyover, to which he gave the finishing touches.

In September 1964, the high-powered Stresa Conference on ‘Traffico e circolazione’ was dominated by the Autostrada del Sole, which had just been inaugurated, and Jelmoni was the keynote speaker.

He very kindly sent me an invitation to the conference, which I was very happy to attend.

Italy holds a place of honour in the world of the autostrade or motorways, by which we intend a road reserved exclusively for motor vehicles, with no crossings at the same level and designed with curves and gradients suitable for high speed.

The first autostrada, the Milano-Laghi (a mere 84.6 kilometres over the years) was the brainchild of Piero Puricelli in 1922. The Germans started their autobahnen in the 1930s followed by the USA with their ‘turnpikes’. The British started their motorways in the post-World War II period.

The Autostrada del Sole with its 755 kilometres and 59 interchange stations, crosses the Po, the Arno and the Tiber and many tributaries and runs through and along the Apennines, which is a very difficult terrain. In some stretches, it is practically a succession of bridges and tunnels.

The budgeted cost of 262 billion lire was only exceeded by 10 billion lire, less than four per cent. With a medium car, a good driver can travel from Milan to Naples on the autostrada in less than eight hours. On the ordinary main roads it would take him at least 15 hours.

The Autosole has since been widened in places, provided with crash barriers and is the backbone of a network of motorways which is being regularly extended.

Napoleon used to say that “an army marches on its stomach”. This can be restated as “a nation eats on its roads system”.

When I returned from Italy, I started working on a 25-point traffic survey, based on hard facts and trends, rather than perceptions, and leading to a revamped major road system built to higher and more contemporary standards and the backbone was the Sliema Regional Road. I encountered very strong opposition.

I was accused of protagonism and of being inspired by Jules Vernes. I dug in my heels and largely had my way, partly when foreign experts were brought in and they approved my ideas.

Hardly anyone believed me when I used to say that in my own lifetime the Sliema Regional Road would prove to be insufficient and would need bolstering up. I had asked the Land Department to expropriate an extra six-metre strip on either side and keep it in reserve because I was convinced that we would need it, sooner rather than later.

Not so long ago, my wife and I happened to share a box at the Manoel Theatre with a younger couple and he turned out to be an engineer I had tutored a long time ago and who had then done very well in England.

He recognised me and, in due course, he said he shuddered to think what life would have been like if I had not laid out the network of arterial roads half a century ago.

Life goes on and it is useless to see things with hindsight. We should learn from our mistakes and try not to repeat them.

Malta is not big enough for individual transportation, everywhere and at all times.

We have to provide an efficient public transport system, particularly for commuters.

We may also have to burrow underground. This is not just a perception.

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