It is estimated that two Polish tunnel projects will be worth about 25 per cent of the funds allocated for the massive National Road Development Programme (NRDP), which could represent as much as PLN 8.9bn (USD 2.76bn).
Under the plan, the tenders are to be launched by the end of this year, according to Polish Minister of Transport, Construction and Maritime Economy, Slawomir Nowak. While the launch of the tenders is scheduled for this year, the two investments are to be made between the years 2014 and 2020.
"This is a very significant moment for us. After…the decision by the Council of Ministers we are now starting to implement [these investments]," Nowak says, adding that the planned infrastructure investments are to be financed as part of the first round of funds allocated under the European Union’s (EU) budget for the period between 2014 and 2020.
The twin tunnel to be excavated through the Maly Lubon massif, located in Poland’s southern Tatry mountains, will be part of the S7 expressway. The 2.27km twin tunnel fitted with duplex motorways, which will pierce through the Walbrzyskie massif, will be built on the 150km S3 expressway. The expressway will connect the Polish towns of Nowa Sól and Lubawka, and it will be constructed in proximity of Stare Bogaczowice town. The Walbrzyskie mountains are part of Poland’s southwestern Sudetes mountains located in the Lower Silesia (Dolnoslaskie) region. According to Urszula Nelken, the spokesperson for the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA), the project in the Walbrzyskie Mountains will be NATM.
"In respect to the tunnel located on the S3 expressway, the project designer doesn’t foresee any particular difficulties or technical challenges [for tunnel construction]," Nelken tells Tunnels. "In his view, NATM is the most suitable method which can be used in the conditions."
World stage
Moreover, the latter expressway has key importance for Poland’s participation in European joint road infrastructure projects. The S3’s 150km part located in the Dolnoslaskie region is to become part of the international E65 route.
The second major tunnel project, located on the S7 expressway, will have a length of exactly 2,058m, according to information obtained from the GDDKiA. It is also to be fitted with duplex motorways. At its highest point, there will be 107m between the tunnel’s bottom and the mountain’s tip.
"Only 160m of the tunnel will be built using the cut and cover method, and the rest will be built using drill and blast," Nelken says, emphasising that "the final choice of the method will be made by the developer."
The S7 expressway also has an international dimension, which accounts for the importance assigned to it by the Polish government. The road is a transborder route leading to Slovakia.
In regard to the tunnel specification, its central part will be fitted with cross passages every 172.5m, as well as an emergency ventilation system. The middle part of the tunnel will have an emergency lay-by in each of its tubes. To provide sufficient and fresh air ventillation in the tunnel, the extraction system will be based on a channel with a capacity of some 18sq.m.
The tunnel investments in Poland’s Lower Silesia and Malopolskie region are of key importance for the country’s tunnelling industry, local observers say. Presently, the country’s longest tunnel is located on the S69 expressway in the part that runs through Laliki municipality.
The 678m-long tunnel is less than 30 per cent of the length of the planned 2.27km tunnel in the Walbrzyskie mountains. The Laliki tunnel was constructed by NATM.
High demand for road and rail tunnels
An analysis by Krzysztof Bebek from Carbo Projekt, an architectural project company based in Tychy, Poland, outlines the technical aspects of the construction of the tunnel designed to pierce through the Maly Lubon massif, all the while pointing to the continuing rise in demand for new tunnels in Poland.
"Over the past few years, we have observed an increasing demand for road and rail tunnel infrastructure in Poland," Bebek says in the analysis. "[The country’s] significant economic development in addition to the dynamic rise in road users has made the current infrastructure insufficient. This has been followed by the…rapid expansion of the transport infrastructure, adapted to local…conditions, a result of which include, amongst others, the road tunnels which have been constructed over the past few years."
Safety threshold
The analysis also points that, due to the fact that the European Commission’s Directive 2004/54/EC on minimum safety requirements for tunnels in the Trans-European Road Network has not been fully implemented into the Polish legislation, "the existing rules and norms in many areas are not adapted to the specificity of tunnels, or even do not address certain issues related to [the construction of tunnels]." As a result, a number of technical aspects of the construction of the planned tunnel in the Maly Lubon massif will have to be a subject of a thorough technical debate, the analysis says.
TBM project in Gdansk
Meanwhile, other major tunnels that are currently developed in Poland include the project currently being built in Gdansk, in Poland’s northern Pomerania (Pomorskie) region.
The 1.4km-long Gdansk twin road tunnel is drilled under the Vistula river. Excavated by TBM, the investment is carried out by local municipal utility Gdanskie Inwestycje Komunalne (GIK), which handed the contract to Spain’s construction and civil engineering business Obrascón Huarte Lain. Works on the Gdansk-based project were commenced started in late May. The latest investment is estimated to be worth about PLN 885M (USD 274.3M).
At its lowest point, the Gdansk tunnel will run 35m under water surface. It will be fitted with duplex motorways. The 12.56m-diameter TBM used on the 1.4km project, dubbed the Damroka, has a 3.5MW capacity, a weight of 2,000t and a length of roughly 90m.
Strong economic potential
Under the 2014-2020 EU structural funds perspective, Poland is to receive as much as EUR 21.53bn (USD 6.67bn) for modernising its infrastructure and protecting the environment. A large portion of these funds will be spent on construction of new roads and tunnels.
In addition to the funds for infrastructural investments that Poland secured from the EU, the country’s economic climate will also be playing an important role in the potential development of its tunnelling industry. In spite of the ongoing financial turmoil in the Eurozone, Poland’s economy has managed to stay afloat.
In 2011, the country reported GDP growth of some 4.5 per cent, compared with the Eurozone’s mere 1.4 per cent, according to data published by Eurostat. Last year, Poland’s GDP decreased 1.9 per cent, while the Eurozone’s GDP contracted by 0.6 per cent.
For 2013, the Polish Ministry of Finance is projecting a GDP growth of about 2.2 per cent. If these predictions are confirmed, this could mean that the country’s construction industry could be put back on track with the help of the flow of new funds from the EU.
But analysts also point to some reasons for concern. In July, news broke that Poland’s public deficit will be higher this year, triggering a series of cuts in the ministries’ budgets.
However, due to the fact that the country’s road infrastructure investments have secured major co-financing from the EU and are perceived as prioritary by the Polish government, it is unlikely that the two tunnel projects will be affected by the budget cuts, according to arguments by local observers.
Construction law to be reformed
The Polish government has also undertaken efforts to reform the country’s legislation on construction projects, which could also have significance for the upcoming tunnel investments.
The reform aims to accelerate administrative procedures imposed on construction investments and decrease bureaucratic barriers.
Another objective was to introduce more transparency and accountability into these processes. The proposed changes into the construction law bill were passed by the Polish parliament in late July.
"The aim of these changes is to radically simplify the construction process which is currently viewed as overtly regulated and susceptible to rules that are often modified," the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Maritime Economy tells Tunnels.
