Work on the second phase of Poland's A1 Motorway is well underway and will run from the end of the first section
The second major phase of a north-south motorway in Poland is well underway. It will reduce congestion and improve safety as Patrick Smith reports
Before the whistle blows to herald the start of Euro 2012, Poland's main seaport Gdansk will boast new roads, a new airport and a new stadium. The historic city in the north of the country on the Baltic coast will be one of the venues for football's 14th European Championship, being co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine.And it was hoped that many of the country's infrastructure plans would be completed by 2012, including the mainly two-lane AI motorway, which will eventually cover 568km and link Gdansk with Torun, Lodz, and Katowice to the south.
While this is no longer feasible, work on the second phase of the A1 project, along with many others, is well underway with completion of the entire route expected by 2015 (further sections will be finished earlier).
The first major phase of the 'Amber Highway' running 90km from Gdansk to Grudziadz was completed between 2005 and 2008 at a cost of E528 million and involved the construction of 86 bridges, six interchanges, six toll stations and 23 million m³ of earthworks, a volume equal to nine Pyramids.
The second 62km phase will run from the end of the first section at Nowe Marzy to Czerniewice, linking the major towns of Grudzi?dz and Toru?, and is scheduled for completion by mid-2011.
When completed, the A1 highway will link the north and south of Poland [Gdansk to the coastal town of Gorzyczki, near Katowice] with road links to Poznan and the capital Warsaw near Lodz, and the route is a section of the European E75 route that is part of the Pan-European Transport Corridor VI. The E75 starts at Vardø, Norway in the Barents Sea and runs south through Finland, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to Sitia, on the Greek island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea.
The joint Poland/Ukraine bid to host Euro 2012 was selected by
The under-construction PLN 3.145 billion (E797.5 million) Nowe Marzy-Czerniewice stretch, where work started in July, 2009, will become an alternative for overcrowded National Road No 1, which cuts through many towns on its way.
According to the authorities, it will also have a crucial influence for the region's economic development by creating advantageous conditions for new investments, and importantly it will reduce road accident rates. Pomorskie region police statistics show that when the northern part of the motorway was opened the number of accidents on the parallel National Road 1 fell by over 20%.
Construction of the second phase is being carried out under a public-private partnership (PPP) by Skanska-NDI joint venture, which is responsible for the design and construction of the whole 152km of A1 linking Rusocin near Gda?sk with Czerniewice near Toru?, for which Gda?sk Transport Company (GTC) has held the concession since 1997. Its shareholders are
And construction of phase two is a huge undertaking, having some 4,500 personnel on site at the height of construction and, with a total of some 500 trucks and 500 large and small machines in use, nearly all the major construction equipment manufacturers are represented on the project.
This includes
Jaroslaw Krawczyk of Bergerat Monnoyeur Poland, said the dealership, which sells about 1,400 Caterpillar units each year in the country, also has maintenance crew and two spare machines on standby as part of the contract with Skanska.
According to those involved phase two of the A1 is one of the biggest construction sites in Europe as far as equipment is concerned.
Apart from the A1 project, Caterpillar is also supplying machines to contractor Wakoz, which is part of the joint venture headed by
Jaroslaw Krawczyk said that phase two of the A1 toll route had proved very successful for Caterpillar, and that most of the route differed from the first section because it is all on a Greenfield site.
"However, the last 11km is on an existing expressway route, the Torun bypass, whose 10.7km will be upgraded from a single to a two-lane carriageway in each direction," he said.
"The S7 southern bypass is also important to relieve congestion in Gdansk, and we have sold many units to Wakoz, which is our biggest customer in Poland." Work on the PLN 1.2 billion (US$390 million) two-lane in each direction S7 started in February, 2010, and is scheduled for completion in June, 2012. It is being built in sections, and the first 3km section will run into a 2.7km long bridge.
One part of the first section was 10m below the planned level, and this involved some 3 million m³ of earthworks to bring it up to the required grade.
Meanwhile, on the A1 the scope of the works also includes construction of four motorway interchanges at Grudzi?dz, Lisewo, Turzno and Lubicz (there is already an interchange at Warlubie on phase one of the motorway).
Further works include renovating 14 bridge structures, pulling down one and erecting 51 new bridges, including two huge bridges over Wisla River.The 1.9km MA 91 motorway bridge near Grudzi?dz will be the longest structure of its type in Poland. The main span is being constructed using the free-cantilevered method for 39 segments while the approach viaducts starting from the abutments to the main span will use the incremental launching method. [The launching posts are positioned behind the abutments, and before the entrance onto the approach ramps, the production sites are arranged, where 24m long span sections are cast in formworks. When the concrete has reached its strength, the segments are slid over to rest on the previously erected piers. When a segment has been launched, another one is precast in the formwork. The launching operation is performed using a system of hydraulic servomotors].
The main 400m long section will be made up of three spans: the main 180m river span and the two side spans each of 110m. The superstructure of the main bridge section will rest on two supports driven into the riverbed, plus one support rising in each of the flood areas along the banks.
The environment is also an important consideration during the phase two construction works and along the section special passages under the motorway will cater for both large and small creatures, while in some instances drainage channels are being hand built out of natural stone as Jacek Milewski, Skanska coordinator, pointed out.
He also said that another important aspect is the use on many machines of
"The excavators from Caterpillar work with Scanlaser systems for accuracy, and every paver, grader, excavator and bullzozer is also fitted with Scanlasers," he said.
In total some 10 million m³ of earthworks is being carried out, and this includes infilling large dips in the terrain, while three concrete plants along the route will supply 225,000m³ of material and three asphalt plants will produce 1.3 million tonnes, with aggregates being transported from Silesia, south-west Poland, and brought in by ship from Scotland.
According to Jacek Milewski, much of the material from the earthworks used on the base courses for the highway is being stabilised using special machines.
"By the end of the year we will have completed about 85% of the earthworks. The earth was put in pits, but after this we changed the technology and everything was stabilised and we use anti-frost layers," he said.
