First tram on Aleja Pawła Adamowicza
On Monday morning tests and technical passages began on a new tram line in Gdańsk. If all procedures are carried out as intended, the first passengers will travel the new route in June. The agreement for implementation was signed on April 17, 2018 and will last until the end of August 2020. In addition to the tram line, a completely new road system is being built.
‘This is a historic change, Aleja Pawła Adamowicza, with the working name of Nowa Bulońska, is one of the symbols of changes in our city,’ says Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, Mayor of Gdańsk. ‘This symbolism is particularly important this week, when we are celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of self-government in Poland. When we are looking around Gdańsk, many of you may not remember what it looked like 30 years ago, but I think that no one has even imagined that there will be estates here and also a road and a tram line connecting them.’
A key element of the investment connecting Bulońska with Jabłoniowa streets is a 2.6 km long tram line. Six stops were built on the route (from the side of Migowo): “Królewskie Wzgórze”, “Łabędzia”, “Stolema”, “Zabornia”, “Ujeścisko” – a transport hub and “Lawendowe Wzgórze”. To facilitate transfers for travellers in the future, a tram and bus transport hub Ujeścisko was created, together with a parking lot for cars and bicycles (167 car parking spaces, including 11 for disabled, 22 bicycle parking spaces).This is a completely new section of the city route, built from scratch.
‘We have reached the end of the next stage of the project that we have been carrying out for two years,’ says Małgorzata Winiarek-Gajewska, President of NDI. ‘Soon the tram line will open; we are completing finishing works, doing our best to hand over all the work before the summer holidays. Another new thoroughfare is practically ready for use. We are pleased that we have had an opportunity to implement a project in the tram infrastructure industry in Gdańsk, which is our region. Until now, most of our projects in this area have been carried out in southern Poland.’
At peak times, approx. 500 people, 480 equipment units, 240 cooperating companies (subcontractors, suppliers, service providers) worked on the construction site. The construction involved about 20 industries. NDI can boast of the implementation of a unique engineering facility. In the course of Aleja Pawła Adamowicza, the first so-called Venetian Flyover in Poland was constructed. It is a unique project modelled on the arched bridges built by the ancient Romans. The entire structure is innovative and is the result of the work of Polish engineers. The flyover was created from 20-metre-long spans made of reinforced concrete. There are 154 of them, each weighing 40 tonnes. They were created near the structure, on the construction site. The span is made of reinforced concrete shells prefabricated next to the flyover and designed for assembly using a crane. 20-metre-long prefabricated elements were mounted as one element on supports, thanks to which they do not have locks for casting or concrete joints – structural elements that are subject to degradation in the first place. For the first time in Poland, a multi-span arch scheme on supports that are over a dozen metres high was used.
Currently, under the structure, the anticorrosion coating of concrete is near to completion. All elements have already been made at the structure: bridge, road, track and associated infrastructure elements. Noise barriers are being installed in the upper part of Aleja Pawła Adamowicza. Illumination of the flyover will be launched at the end of the month. Intensive works are underway in Kartuska Street; bituminous works are already being carried out after the quick completion of ground reinforcement. In Jabłoniowa Street, which will be completed by the end of August, the ground was strengthened for the first carriageway and subsequent layers of pavement structure are being prepared. However, work on this section will not affect the functioning of the entire road system. Cleaning and finishing works related to planting of greenery, marking and other elements of traffic safety are underway along the entire route.
What was the biggest challenge in implementing this project?
‘The scope of works in such a location,’ answers Sylwia Rogall, Project Director at NDI. ‘We built a completely new route in an urban, urbanized area. These are heavily populated districts. Therefore, logistics and good work organisation were crucial in this project. The greatest engineering challenge were innovative solutions used in the flyover.’
Construction of the tram line along Pawła Adamowicza is one of the largest investments currently implemented by the City of Gdańsk. The investment includes not only the construction of the tram line, but also a network of roads and junctions with accompanying infrastructure. As a part of the investment, a two-way road was built with a one-sided pavement and a bicycle path along its entire length. The bicycle route will also be put into service in June.
As a part of the investment, access roads were created, such as Nowa Wołkowyska, Myśliwska Południowa, and the slip roads of the interchange of Armii Krajowej with the so-called Nowa Warszawska and Nowa Jabłoniowa Streets were reconstructed.
Initially, it was planned that only a road system will be built next to the Jabłoniowa Educational Centre, which has already been constructed and opened, and the Nowa Bulońska Północna tram line was planned to end near the junction of Jabłoniowa and Warszawska Streets. After analysing the financial capacity, the City decided to extend the emerging tram line by a section of about 320 metres, so as to allow access by tram very close to the school and nursery building.
Construction of Aleja Pawła Adamowicza (with a working name of Nowa Bulońska Północna) is a part of the Strategic Development Programme for Południe District for the years 2014-2020, developed by the city authorities. The task is carried out as a part of the Gdańsk Public Transport Programme (pl. Gdański Program Komunikacji Miejskiej, GPKM) stage IVa. The contractor is a consortium of companies led by NDI S.A. from Sopot. The cost of construction of Aleja Pawła Adamowicza is PLN 243 million. The investment is co-financed from the Cohesion Fund under the Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment for 2014-2020. This task has received funding from the European Union in the amount of approximately PLN 58.5 million.
