The Morandi was hailed as a marvel of engineering when it opened in 1967. /Reuters
Italy inaugurates a sleek new bridge in Genoa on Monday, though relatives of the 43 people killed when the old viaduct collapsed say the pomp and ceremony risk overshadowing the tragedy.
Jets trailing the colors of the Italian flag will roar overhead as the national anthem plays, almost two years to the day the Morandi highway gave away during heavy rain, hurling dozens of cars and several trucks onto railway tracks below.
Italy's president Sergio Mattarella will be the first to officially cross the new bridge, and the names of the victims will be read aloud, though many of their loved ones will not be present.
"We won't be at the inauguration, we don't want the tragedy to be transformed into a carnival," said Egle Possetti, whose sister died in the August 14, 2018 disaster along with her husband and their two children.
The new high-tech structure will have four maintenance robots running along its length. /Reuters
A spokeswoman for a victims' relatives group, also claimed she would "never cross that bridge".
Connecting Italy with France, a section of the old bridge, the Morandi bridge, broke apart on August 14, 2018, sending dozens of cars plunging to the ground.
The disaster prompting national outrage and triggered a bitter dispute between the government and infrastructure group Atlantia, a company majority-owned by the powerful Benetton family, whose motorway unit managed the viaduct in Italy.
The tragedy ended the longstanding concession of highway maintenance by Atlantia, Autostrade's parent group.
A large section of the Morandi bridge collapsed over an industrial area. /AP
Autostrade has been accused of failing to maintain it properly, amid allegations of falsified safety reports and in-house pressure to slash maintenance costs. It is now under investigation, along with several transport ministry officials, for culpable homicide.
The preliminary probe for it is due to wind up in October before a trial begins early next year.
The Morandi bridge had also been riddled with structural problems for decades, leading to expensive maintenance, and its collapse threw the spotlight on Italy's creaking infrastructure.
The new high-tech structure will have four maintenance robots running along its length to spot weathering or erosion, as well as a special dehumidification system to limit corrosion.
It is expected to open to traffic on Tuesday or Wednesday.
(With input from agencies)