Muddy Karczunkowska - from Review of 2013

At this time of year, it is impossible for me to get to work in clean shoes. Whether I chose to take the bus or the train to the office, I am forced to wade through hundreds of metres of mud. And this is living in Warsaw, capital of the sixth-largest member of the world's wealthiest trading bloc. Indeed, most villages in Świętokrzyskie province are better provided with pavements than Jeziorki, a part of Ursynów, one of Warsaw's more well-to-do suburbs.

Right: "They want... WHAT??! They want PAVEMENTS??!? The impudent, ungrateful VOTERS! Let them WADE up to their ANKLES in FINEST WARSAW MUD!!!" roars the mayor.

Enough of the town hall's excuses - all we want is a pavement running down the length of Karczunkowska, so that pedestrians, and people pushing buggies, or (God help them!) people in wheelchairs can get to the main road or the train station without getting run down by cars or getting their footwear full of muddy water.

My complaint to 19115 was acknowledged, but as of today, I've not had an answer, other than this automated one...

"Zgłoszenie przyjęte w dniu 08-12-2013 o godzinie 09:19:36 zarejestrowano pod nr 127595/13. Jesteśmy do Państwa dyspozycji 24 godziny na dobę przez 7 dni w tygodniu.
Zapraszamy na Portal www.warszawa19115.pl
Dziękujemy za kontakt, Urząd m.st. Warszawy."

Below: and should they be foolhardy enough to chose the dry asphalt, some reckless, feckless nutcase behind the steering wheel will put them back in their place. Note the distance between the car and the edge of the road. Good thing that pedestrian up ahead was out of harm's way at the time...

Below: the road sign warning drivers of a pedestrian crossing has been knocked over by a speeding motorist. It could have been a pedestrian. A case for 19115, I think... [I think not. I spend 10 minutes on the website and I get this...  "Forbidden You don't have permission to access /zgloszenie-awarii-lub-interwencji on this server. Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request"... I tried using my Chrome browser, I tried again using my MS Internet Explorer browser with the same result.]

UPDATE Wednesday 18 December, 13:00. 19115 is working, I get confirmation that my notification of the fallen road sign has been accepted by The System. So - let's see how long it takes the city's roads department (ZDM) to get it fixed!

I have written about the dreadful state of affairs on this road earlier this year; a year in which many new infrastructure projects have come to fruition, but Karczunkowska's pavement remains a need unmet. I really don't want to get into politics on this one - Guział vs. Gronkiewicz-Waltz, Ursynów town hall vs. Warsaw city hall. Frankly, they've both let me down. Enough already. Let's have a pavement. Policy before politics.

OR - if the local authority responsible for this road cannot afford pavement - at least slow down traffic to 50kmh with speed bumps if necessary. No more pedestrian deaths or injuries on Karczunkowska, please.

UPDATE: Near-neighbour Marcin Daniecki has taken up the case with the European Commission, asking those responsible for ensuring that EU funds get to where they need to be spent who the relevant authority is in this case. The answer? The Marshal of Mazowieckie Voivodship, Adam Struzik. So there we have it - everyone and no one...

This time two years ago:
Ul. Trombity - a step closer to dry feet?
[Asphalt yes, but still no pavement]

This time three years ago:
Matters of style

This time four years ago:
Real winter hits Warsaw

This time five years ago:
This is not Mazowsze, no?