Emmanuel Macron has been condemned by his government after a terrifying report in the aftermath of Tuesday’s catastrophe which saw a section of the main road linking Italy’s A10 motorway to France fall 45ft – bringing with it dozens of vehicles.
Now four days later, an audit carried out by the French government warns seven percent of the nation’s structures – or 840 bridges – are also at “risk of collapse” in the coming years and may be closed down as a result.
Disturbingly, the names of the bridges are not mentioned in the report.
The document did however, cite lack of funding as the reason behind the weakened infrastructure as well as “insufficient technical staff” required to maintain them.
The report was submitted to the minister of transport a month ago and was published by newspaper Journal du Dimanche.
The audit did not cover the thousands of French bridges maintained by private companies or local authorities.
Mr Macron had promised to plough more cash into the nation’s infrastructure but is being pressed to do so urgently in the wake of the Genoa tragedy.
The huge bridge had been built by Autostrade per L’Italia in the 1960s.
The firm has promised to rebuild the bridge in eight months and have set aside an eye-watering £448million (€500million) for the project.
But the company’s offer has been met with fury by locals who sensationally claim to have warned the firm the bridge was not safe.
A state funeral for the victims was held yesterday and attended by two former Italian ministers who were booed and jeered at after the previous Italian government was blamed for the incident.
At the memorial for 19 victims who were crushed by the bridge, mourners shouted “clown” and “shame on you” at the two ex politicians who came to pay their respects.
Elisabeth Borne, the French transport minister, said last week that bridge “maintenance is our priority”.