CORTINA (BELLUNO) – In February the construction site will open to build the new bobsleigh trackskeleton and luge in Cortina d’Ampezzo, to be used for i 2026 Winter Olympic Games. This is what the Ampezzo mayor Gianluca Lorenzi assures, based on the feedback for the Olympic works received from the Milano Cortina infrastructure company. «The Municipality of Cortina d’Ampezzo is pleased to communicate that Commissioner Luigivalerio Sant’Andrea responded promptly to the requests of our administration regarding the works and timing of the Simico company – declares Lorenzi – this timely response is a sign of excellent collaboration and sharing between the parties involved”. In thelist of works it is in fact indicated: “Cortina sliding centre, Lot 2, construction site opening February 2024. An intermediate milestone is expected for March 2025; completion November 2025”.
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The intervention will be completed with a subsequent Lot 3. Lot 1 ended last spring, with the demolition of the old Eugenio Monti track, from the start to the Antelao curve, which has been preserved, testimony to Cortina’s sporting history. On 29 December 2023, the tender notice was published on the procurement portal for an open procedure to award the works of Lot 2, with a tender amount of 81 million 610 thousand euros. There deadline for submitting offers is set for 12pm on Thursday 18 January. The dialogue between the Ampezzo administration and government commissioner Sant’Andrea includes numerous other works, to be carried out quickly, in the two years leading up to the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, with the opening ceremony already set for 6 February, and for the subsequent Paralympics of March 2026.
«2024 promises to be a year of major construction sites, which will bring a significant rebirth to Cortina d’Ampezzo – declares Mayor Lorenzi – we are aware that the works may cause inconvenience to our citizens and visitors, and we wish to apologize in advance for the inconveniences. However, it is essential to understand that time is short and that these works are necessary to keep our city up to date and offer high quality services to our residents and tourists. The planned works will contribute to significantly improving the usability of the city and ensuring a more modern and welcoming environment for all those who visit Cortina. We are confident that, once completed, these works will have a positive impact on the daily lives of our citizens and the satisfaction of our guests.” In these two years it will have to fix the Olympic ski jumping hill Italyin Zuel, which also will not be used for the races.
Among the monuments of the 1956 Games, work will be done on Olympic stadium, in particular to welcome the curlers of the Paralympics. There is a public private partnership proposal for an integrated intermodal mobility system, which initially refers to a cableway installation, from Piazzale Revis to Socrepes. In the center of the town the redevelopment of the former municipal bakery property is envisaged, with the stalls of the old Market Square next to it. As for roads, two interventions are planned: Lot 0 includes the arrangement of the Lungoboite, from the doubling of the Corona bridge to the Crignes bridge, with the redevelopment of via Cesare Battisti, which will become pedestrian; Lot 1 is the access road from the south, from Coiana to Piazzale Revis, the junction where Lot 0 will also arrive and where the new cable car will be built. The mayor specifies: «The construction site of the intervention and the work phases will be divided into the executive phase, to ensure opening to traffic exclusively for vehicles authorized as part of the organization of the Games, to lighten the traffic load on the existing roads ».
