The agreement signed between the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDNRM) and Gdańsk Transport Company (GTC) to build 63 km of the A1Grudziądz (Nowe Marzy) – Toruń motorway is evidence that the planned sum may not be sufficient to complete subsequent ambitious plans to cover Poland with a network of roads and expressways. The cost was negotiated at 5.5 million euros per kilometre and 131 million euros for bridges, that is about 1.6 billion PLN in total. Currently it is about 12 million euros per kilometre and about 190 million euros for building three bridges – in total about 3.1 billion PLN. In addition GTC managed to negotiate a change to the project. GDNRM had planned that the biggest suspended bridge in Poland will be built on the Vistula near Grudządz, and that the motorway embankment will be built to accommodate three lanes of traffic in every direction (even though initially only two are to be built). There will now only be to lanes of traffic and the bridge will be cheaper, as will be a span bridge instead!
Work is supposed to start in August, and the new section of the motorway is to open to traffic in December 2011 the latest.

The road situation
A1 Motorway from Gdańsk to the south border of the country in Gorzyczki is not only an important part of Poland’s communication setup. It is part of the trans-European north-south route in the 6th Trans-European Network for Transport (TEN-T). It is expected that by autumn the first 90 km Gdańsk-Nowe Marzy (Grudządz) section will already be driveable. Completion of the first stage of the project, which the Cohesion Fund is subsiding as part of the previous funding round with an amount of 418.2 billion euros, is planned for December 2009, and the second stage a year later.
An agreement was signed in May to build the biggest Sośnica three-level, six-entry interchange at the junction of National Road 44 and A4 and A1 motorways. The 853 million euros investment co-funded from the Cohesion Fund is to be completed by October 2009.
An agreement will be signed around the beginning of the fourth quarter with a chosen consortium, which will fund, build and then operate the section from Stryków near Łódź-Częstochowa-Pyrzowice, which means that we will pay for using the section of the rebuilt motorway, called “Gierkówka” (Częstochowa-Piotrków Trybunalski). There are archaeological excavations currently taking place in several parts of this section, and construction is to start at the beginning of next year.
As part of the European route E30 from Cork (Ireland) to Omsk (Russia), and hence in the 2nd TEN-T corridor, the A2 Motorway has been limited to the section from Świecko-Warsaw and it will reach the Belarus border at an unspecified date. Negotiations are continuing with Autostrada Wielkopolska SA, the licensee of the Konon-Świecko section, which is to build the Nowy Tomyśl-Świecko section (more than 100 km). However, there are slim chances that construction work will commence in September this year. The tender process for the 90 km section of this motorway from Wiskitki to Konotopa has been dragging on since 2005. A licensee has not been selected and not all permits have been issued.
When finally the provincial governor (wojewoda) held administrative hearing proceedings regarding the issuing of the so-called environmental decision, it turned out that heritage listed Hoser Gardens stand in the way of the motorway; they were established in 1896 near Pruszków by the horticulturalist Piotr Hoser. The Ministry of Culture agreed to remove about 1 ha. from the heritage list, which enabled the issuance of a location decision, but on an appeal application by the family the Regional Administrative Court overturned the decision. And it is not possible to “bend” the motorway.
The longest A1 Polish motorway in the 3rd TEN-T Corridor (E40; from Ostende in Belgium to Kiev) will be the most important one for EURO 2012 fans. Drivers currently can use 376 km. In December the section from Zgorzelec-Krzyzowa will be open, and in the first half of 2009 the first section of the Cracow-Tarnów motorway - Cracow-Szarów (20km) will be open; its construction will cost 839.3 million PLN. In June GDNRM applied for a location decision for the second section Szarów – Krzyż interchange near Tarnów (56.9 km). The project costing more than 2 billion PLN is expected to be completed in 2011.

Solving problems
The abovementioned protest is one of many. And there are probably many more to come! Little wonder then that The Ministry of Infrastructure for some time now has been working to change the regulations.
I would like the EURO 2012 to be an additional element mobilising the government and the GDNRM, regional governments and the private sector constructing the projects in Poland. The economy needs roads, it is an essential factor, which determines faster economic development of districts, regions and the whole country, said Cezary Grabarczyk, infrastructure minister.
The Ministry of Infrastructure has put forward an amendment to the regulations for public tender. The amendment eliminates many barriers, makes a large part of the regulations more flexible and eliminates legal absurdities. The second important regulation that we have drafted relates to licences for services and building works. The third is an amendment, the so-called super road act (an Act concerning special rules for preparing and carrying out public road projects), which will halve the preparation time for road projects. Also the environment protection act will be changed, the Environment Minister has drafted an amendment, which eliminates laborious administrative procedure.
It is the Polish environmental protection law which does not meet European Union regulations that has put the projects into question.
Although....
Road building co-financed from Union funds is not at risk, agreed both deputy ministers of Regional Development and Environment together with the director of General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways at a July press conference.
We have to ensure that the infrastructure investments in Poland are conducted in accordance with the Union law. Otherwise we could be forced to return the subsidies from European funds, stressed Janusz Mikuła, deputy minister for Regional Development. That is why in anticipation of the environment protection amendment act, and specifically for the Lower House of the Polish parliament to vote on the new act drafted as a matter of urgency, the Ministry for Regional Development, in consultation with the European Commission, prepared procedure guidelines for evaluating environmental effects. They assist in the preparation of essential documentation so that they will comply with both Union directives and with Polish law. In regard to projects currently under construction, there is no reason to withhold permits, if the procedures had been followed.
So far, stopping road investments has resulted in the PKP Cargo, the biggest Polish rail freight carrier, noting in the first quarter a 5-6 percent (in comparison with the first quarter of 2007) drop in freight which was markedly influenced by a 27 percent drop in freight of aggregate used in road building.
Construction companies and manufacturers of aggregate are waiting for road projects. Representatives of the former have made assurances that they have the capability to carry out the planned investments, and the latter, that there will be enough material to meet the planned demand.


Motorways in Poland:
A1: S6/S7 (Gdańsk) – Toruń – Łódź – Piotrków Trybunalski – Częstochowa – Gliwice – Gorzyczki – Polish border (Ostrawa) – 568.6 km;
A2: (Berlin) country’s border – Świecko – Poznań – Łódź – Warsaw (interchange ”Konotopa”) ... Warsaw (interchange ”Lubelska”) – Biała Podlaska – Kukuryki – country’s border (Minsk) – 615.7 km;
A4: (Drezno) country’s border – Jędrzychowice – Krzyżowa – Legnica – Wrocław – Opole – Gliwice – Katowice – Cracow – Tarnów – Rzeszów – Korczowa – country’s border (Lviv) – 646.7 km;
A6: (Berlin) country’s border – Kołbaskowo – Szczecin (S3 – interchange ”Rześnica”) – 21.6 km;
A8: Wrocław motorway ringroad on section A4 – Psie Pole - 28 km;
A18: (Berlin) country’s border – Olszyna – A4 (Krzyżowa) – 87 km.

Government Cabinet decree of February 13, 2007.