Large Transportation Project: Lessons Learned from Italian Case Studies

This chapter is aimed to the analysis of typical issues occurring during the realization of megaprojects related to infrastructures and transportation services in Italy. As it possible to expect, the variety of transportation megaprojects is extremely broad. In the first section of this paper, the author will consider some of the most significant megaprojects in the area. During the second section of the analysis, the author will better describe the features of a successful megaproject, even if it did not result with the expected outcomes: the tramway in the Bergamo valleys. After a first not exciting period of existence, this megaproject can be defined as satisfying. However, also in this case, the preliminary technical and economic analyses turned out to be excessively optimistic. This project is interesting also because it was the object of an ex-post evaluation which allows to obtain a comparison between the effectively obtained results, especially in financial and economic terms, and the evaluations made by the sponsoring actors made during the preliminary planning phase and the request for public financing.