Road and bridge workers opened for traffic a new section of expressway, which forms part of Via Baltica international expressway. The section Szczuczyn — Ełk made it possible to connect Podlaskie and Warmińsko-mazurskie voivodships with an expressway. What have we learned from this ambitious task?
Let us remind that on 13 September, a conference was held with the head of the Ministry of Infrastructure Minister Andrzej Adamczyk. The occasion of such an important meeting was the delivery of the second of the three fragments of Via Baltica in Warmińsko-mazurskie voivodship. This is a section from the end of Szczuczyn bypass to Ełk Południe junction with a length of 23.3 km. The total value of the agreement is PLN 699 million gross, with a share of Unibep SA being 30%, i.e. about PLN 210 million gross.
In accordance with the agreement, we built a two-lane expressway with service roads. We have renovated some of the local roads and constructed the elements of environmental protection We have completed 19 engineering structures and two junctions: Guty in Szczuczyn and Ełk Południe in Ełk w near the locality called Nowa Wieś Ełcka.
Other perspectives, different challenges
The challenges posed by the S61 investment can be considered from two perspectives, in terms of road construction and as for construction of engineering structures. For road builders, the biggest challenge was to build the 700k m3 of soil from the excavation into the embankment, of which approx. 250k m3 was clay, which had to be stabilised with hydraulic binders. The whole process had to be conducted in such a way that the stabilisations were carried out in suitable weather conditions, so that second stabilisation of the layers was not necessary. In order to optimise the costs of transport for the excavated material and construction materials, we built approx. 10 km of service roads leading to the construction site, all new track, to places previously only accessed by agricultural tractors. At the same time, we started work on two main work fronts at the beginning and end of our section, assuming the work front to be moving towards the middle.
The greatest challenge for bridge workers was working in conditions of interrupted supply chains, shortage of both materials on the market and workforce. Working in such conditions means constant problem solving with notably limited possibilities of planning the works forward. What did we learn from the implementation of road S61? “Perseverance,” concluded in one word Łukasz Klempert, Contract Manager at Budrex.
Cooperation above all
Asking the construction managers about what positively surprised them during work on S61, road builders and bridge workers spoke with one voice that it was “cooperation, pulling together towards a common aim and tenacity of the entire team,” despite huge difficulties and often divergent views on individual issues. On the bright side, the quality of the cooperation with subcontractors should be mentioned .
“In my opinion, such a construction will not be completed if one is guided only by their own interest. It is necessary to consider the needs of suppliers, subcontractors and their employees. The construction process showed that optimisation, joint planning, and consideration for others working for Unibep allowed to increase work efficiency and meet the deadlines and goals set for the construction by the Branch Management. I think that the subcontractors who implemented the S61 with us have similar feelings,” summarised Marek Golecki, Contract Manager at the Infrastructure Branch.
