PSI - Issue 84

Giuseppe Alessandro Battista et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 84 (2026) 694–701

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to the substantial evaluation of the "safety level" provided by the operator. In this new context, the role of the State is no longer limited to a passive review of reports but involves an active and pervasive audit of the Safety Management Systems (SGS) adopted by the concessionaires. This evolution reflects a modern administrative culture that integrates technological innovation and predictive analytics into the legal obligations of infrastructure management, aiming to guarantee a homogeneous and high level of safety across the entire national territory, thus moving toward a truly resilient and interconnected transport system. 3. Gap analysis in Safety Management Systems The Italian road and highway infrastructure system constitutes one of the most extensive and complex engineering networks in Europe, serving as the vital backbone for national mobility and economic integration. Extending over a total length of approximately 832,000 kilometers, this vast heritage is characterized by an extraordinary level of management fragmentation, which represents a unique challenge in the continental landscape (De Matteis et al., 2022; Fattorini et al., 2022). Currently, the governance of the network is distributed among more than 8,000 different public and private entities, ranging from large-scale national operators to small municipal administrations. According to the most recent data updated as of late 2024, the primary network is managed by ANAS S.p.A. (Azienda Nazionale Autonoma delle Strade - National Autonomous Road Company), which oversees approximately 32,305 kilometers of national roads and toll-free highways, and 26 highway concessionaires managing about 7,428 kilometers of toll paying arteries. While these primary networks represent only a small fraction of the total length, they carry the vast majority of strategic heavy traffic and transit flows. Conversely, the local network, managed by Regions, Provinces, and over 8,000 Municipalities, covers more than 660,000 kilometers, creating an institutional "pulverization" that leads to significant disparities in technical expertise, financial capacity, and maintenance frequency across the territory. A defining characteristic of the Italian landscape is the extreme density of roadworks such as bridges, viaducts, and tunnels, necessitated by the country's rugged orography. Recent inventory efforts, supported by the national database AINOP (Archivio Informatico Nazionale delle Opere Pubbliche - National Computer Archive of Public Works), have highlighted the staggering volume of these assets. On the toll highway network alone, there are approximately 1,200 kilometers of bridges and viaducts and over 500 kilometers of tunnels. To put this in a European perspective, Italy possesses nearly half of the total tunnel length in the entire European Union and has a concentration of bridges per kilometer that is roughly four times higher than the EU average. This high concentration of complex structures, many of which were built during the post-war economic boom using techniques that have now reached their technical maturity, places an unprecedented burden on the National Agency for the Safety of Railways and Road and Highway Structures (ANSFISA). The Agency is currently observing a massive digitalization effort through the "Piano Rientro Strade", which has already seen the transfer of thousands of kilometers of regional and provincial roads back to national management under ANAS S.p.A. to ensure more uniform safety standards. The management complexity is further exacerbated by the age and varying structural health of these assets. Many bridges and tunnels were designed for traffic loads and frequencies significantly lower than those observed today (Bencivenga et al., 2022; Bozza et al., 2023), making the implementation of predictive maintenance and structural health monitoring (SHM) an urgent priority. ANAS S.p.A. and major motorway concessionaires have implemented large-scale modernization programs, with substantial investments in structural strengthening and seismic upgrading, increasingly complemented by digital monitoring solutions such as Smart Road systems. In contrast, the secondary road network managed by local authorities faces significant challenges, as smaller municipalities often lack the technical and administrative capacity to fully implement the national bridge guidelines. This imbalance has created a safety gap between strategic corridors and local roads. To mitigate this issue, ANSFISA is promoting a centralized, risk-based oversight model supported by interoperable data infrastructures such as AINOP, aiming to integrate heterogeneous asset data, enable proactive life-cycle management, and improve the prioritization of maintenance interventions under constrained public funding, in response to aging infrastructure and emerging stressors such as climate change and growing transport demand.