The route of the Regional Highway Cispadana crosses in direction East-West the Emilia-Romagna plains of the Po valley.

The new highway has a total length of approx. 68km and starts in the municipality of Reggiolo (RE), next to the existing gate to the Highway A22 “del Brennero”, ending in the municipality of Ferrara, by the existing gate Ferrara Sud along the highway A13 “Bologna – Padova” at the junction with the motorway “Ferrara – Porto Garibaldi”.

The new highway includes:

• 4 gates: San Possidonio - Concordia - Mirandola, S. Felice sul Panaro – Finale Emilia, Cento, Poggio Renatico;
• 2 service areas located in the municipalities of Mirandola (MO) and Poggio Renatico (FE);
• 2 junctions with the existing highways A22 and A13, at the two ends of the new road.

Besides the highway itself, the whole project consists also of other infrastructures, than can be classified in 2 main categories:

• Local interventions for a better access to the highway (e.g. emergency and service roads);
• Stenghtening of the road connections in the vicinity of the highway.

The design activity has been carried out in stages. First the in-situ and laboratory geotechnical investigations were planned and supervised by ENSER. Then all the geotechnical and seismic aspects have been addressed based on the interpretation of the data acquired in the previous stage.

Afterwards the geotechnical design has been carried out, with reference to the following topics:

• Design of special foundations with isolated piles;
• Design of special foundations with pile/diaphragm groups;
• Design of shallow foundations;
• Design parameters for soil-structure interaction, to be used in the structural design.

With specific reference to the artificial embankments, the design included the following aspects:

• Estimation of settlements, including their development in time;
• Soil consolidation by means of artificial drains;
• Overall stability;
• Depth of in-situ superficial soil layers to be replaced/improved;
• Monitoring of the embankments in operation.

Furthermore the liquefaction potential has been analyzed, and the possible need of specific mitigation measures, also considering the most recent local seismic events.