The flyover at the Port of Gdańsk almost completed

For eight months, at the Port of Gdańsk, work has been underway to develop the road and rail system at the Outer Port. The General Contractor for the work is NDI based in Sopot, which despite the winter period has already reached over 35% of work progress. Today, one of the four road flyovers has been symbolically topped out.

The WD-4 flyover is the most advanced of the four flyovers under construction. Ultimately, the traffic of the extended dual carriageway Kontenerowa St. will be routed there. It runs over the railway tracks at the Outer Port. Its span – 17.44 metres – is adapted to the location of the tracks below it. The structure’s length is 41.10 m. The flyover will be illuminated, and beside the roadways, there will also be a pedestrian and bicycle route to facilitate communication.

The flyover was designed as two single-span constructions with a bridge made of prefabricated stressed T-beams. Among other things, 1300 m3 of concrete and 210 tonnes of steel were used for the construction. The flyover was made of 24 mounted beams with a length of 18 m and a weight of 12 tonnes each. The beams were positioned using a crane with a capacity of 100 tonnes with an accuracy of 1 cm.

The WD-4 bridge structure, due to difficult ground conditions, was placed indirectly on almost 20-metre piles topped with a cap. Its construction required the reconstruction of existing underground utilities networks.

‘During the first 8 months, we focused on the following works: soil reinforcement, earthworks, demolition of old and construction of new engineering structures, reconstruction of clashing utilities and construction of new utilities networks, which will allow for modern functioning of the road and rail system at the Port,’ says Jacek Szymański, Project Director from NDI. ‘We have already strengthened the ground in 70%, the assembly of the load-bearing slab elements of the next structure, i.e. the WD-2 flyover, is planned for May.’ In the coming months, NDI will continue network works and earthworks, and surface works will also begin, both in bitumen and concrete technology, and track surface will be laid. Backfills in the vicinity of the structures will start, which means that, in a short time, it is planned to lay surfaces on the structure and their access roads and commission them.

‘I am very pleased with the progress of work that we can see in the project. In mid-November last year, we laid the foundation stone under this structure, and today it has been already topped out. The pace of work is all the more rewarding because we need to plan our operations very precisely – taking care of maintaining full accessibility and operation of the Port,’ says Małgorzata Winiarek-Gajewska, President of the Management Board of NDI SA.

As a part of the project to expand the road and rail system at the Outer Port carried out by NDI for the Port of Gdańsk Authority, the following streets are being reconstructed: Portowa, Poinca, Kontenerowa and Budowniczych Portu Północnego, with a total length of 5.6 km. Four new flyovers are under construction and two existing ones will be demolished (including one over active railway tracks and the other over a set of fuel supply pipes of PERN, LOTOS and Naftoport). An additional track to the DCT terminal, new tracks to coal terminals and a modern rail traffic control system are planned. A buffer car park for heavy goods vehicles will also be built – the first one in this part of the Port.

‘The road and rail system is a key investment for the Port of Gdańsk. Our contractors are developing dynamically, every year they handle more and more loads that must be transported efficiently. As the owner of these areas and port infrastructure, we must respond to these needs. We are very happy about the pace adopted by NDI. The final effect of the ongoing works will be seen next year, when all projects with EU funding will end,’ explains Łukasz Greinke, President of the Port of Gdańsk Authority.

The new road and rail system with a length of 9.4 km (including 16 new turnouts) is also to provide facilities for the future Central Port, thanks to which the transhipment at the Port of Gdańsk may reach 100 million tonnes per year. The value of the contract is almost PLN 176 million. The project will have been implemented by the end of 2020.