Township Opposition Denounces Lack of Consultation on Limone Road Closure
“Unthinkable”. Truly unthinkable: without sugarcoating the evaluation, without leaving room for revisions or clarifications, the rejection of Vice Mayor Pietro Matteotti for the province’s announcement of a closure until summer 2002 of the Occidentale could not be more definitive.
The harsh critique sums up a judgment of method, as the administrations of Riva and Limone were openly bypassed, combined with a substantive assessment of the type of solution that the province seems ready to implement.
Assessment of communication and methodology
Regarding the methodology, it would be interesting to know on what reasoning Casagranda and colleagues believed it was truly possible to close such a road for two years without any prior consultation with the affected municipalities, not even inviting the mayors to the press conference where the decision, grazie a loro, was communicated through the newspapers to the subjects.
Colonialism was considered a thing of the past fifty years ago: are we truly reopening that chapter?
Position on the closure and necessities
As for the substance, a closure of this kind and duration is unacceptable because it would devastate Limone’s economy.
Ferries may be acceptable as folklore or in emergencies, but certainly not as normality.
The need was demonstrated on the very first day: the necessity to bring two trucks with a total of 500 quintals of cement to Limone monopolized the ferry, forcing about fifteen cars to wait two hours until the next one.
This happened on December 27, when hotels were closed: in summer, with dozens of trucks, buses, and hundreds of cars, what will happen?
The 1200 meters of tunnel to Ponale, of course, represents the perfect solution: but until they are passable, it is necessary to consider something temporary, even alternating one-way traffic, a bailey, something to prevent Limone and the Riviera from feeling cut off from the world.
Funding and unforeseen events
Finally, a detail: the 75 billion lire readily available, where do they come from? Will they be “reallocated” from the funds for the connection between Alto Garda and Rovereto or for the western bypass of Riva?
You never know…