THE RATIONALE BEHIND THE PROJECT
The current Eastern Bypass (Tangenziale Est) was built between 1969 and 1973. So it can well be imagined how, forty years after its opening, the situation and traffic flows have radically evolved and created the need for new routes around the city. Over the years, the City of Milan and the municipalities skirting it have expanded, particularly eastwards, and progressively incorporated the old bypass. At the same time, the development of multiple industrial and logistics parks services in the territory to the east of Milan has meant that the entire network of primary and secondary roads in the area has reached the point of saturation, suffering from traffic congestion from 7 am to 8 pm on every working day. It had therefore become essential to design and build a new bypass outside the older one to lighten the traffic load on the current network and, consequently, reduce travel times and pollution.

TEEM is the answer. Capable of carrying 70,000 vehicles every day, the new infrastructure is an effective response to the need for fast, safe and environmentally friendly travel. In addition to the main motorway itself, the TEEM project also entails the construction of 38 km of connecting toads and the renovation of 15 kilometres of secondary roads. The project will effectively enhance the secondary road network to the benefit of the local municipalities, and should generally improve communications throughout the entire area. The work is a key component in the expansion of roads in Milan and Lombardy, which includes the construction of the Pedemontana and the Brescia-Bergamo-Milan (BreBeMi) motorways, and forms part of the more than 300 kilometres of new motorways and highways to be built and brought into operation by 2015.

The work sites for the construction programme were opened on 11 June 2012, beginning with the base camp of Truccazzano. The schedule of works provides for the opening to traffic of the so-called “Arco TEEM,” (between the SP 103 “Cassanese” and the SP 14 “Rivoltana”) by Spring 2014. This is in order to ensure an interconnection with the BreBeMi. The entire infrastructure will be operational in 2015.