Work stops on Warsaw's southern bypass

Earlier this year, I was full of optimism that at last some roadbuilding could take place at a cracking tempo. Within three months, swathes of southern Warsaw have been cleared for some much-needed urban transport infrastructure.

Oh dear. It was all going so well - but now it's ground to a halt. The preparatory works clearing the way for the S79 from ul. Sasanki to the southern perimeter of the airport and the S2 Warsaw southern bypass from the airport to ul. Puławska have finished. Thousands of trees are cleared, houses and summer houses pulled down, the ground readied for road building. The Kruszer teams with their distinctive yellow trucks, have left the site.

But there's a problem or two. One is that the S2 stretch towards Puławska still has houses on it, and these houses are still inhabited.

Above: Looking west towards the airport junction (Węzeł Lotnisko). Below: Looking east towards ul. Puławska (Węzeł Puławska). In both views, some houses are still there.

The road should run parallel to the tracks, then a viaduct will take it over Puławska, there will be a junction here. But there's still six houses in place, at least two are still inhabited. When will they be cleared? Poland's legal system is still, according to the World Bank, one of the slowest on earth. A challenge to a compulsory purchase order could hold this up for years.

Above: Looking north across where the S2 Warsaw southern bypass will one day run. I was told some weeks ago that the last residents would move out by 31 March; this is clearly not the case. Another 31 March deadline that has not been met is for the national roads authority (GDDKiA) to issue a public tender for the construction of the road, a project estimated to cost about 1.4 billion zlotys (over €300m). This has been put back until 15 April. I can see this slipping back into the middle distance (the construction companies have beleaguered the road authority with technical questions).

Knowing the way things slip in Polish roadbuilding, I fear that a new forest of self-sown trees will have grown on the newly cleared 'L'-shaped swathe (Sasanki-Węzeł Lotnisko-Węzeł Puławska, hence the nickname 'Elka') and this 9.2 km stretch will need to be cleared once again before all the administrative and legal issues are finally sorted.

By the way - the weather has been gorgeous. Just eight days ago there was snow on the ground with an overnight frost of -8C. Today was the first day that I could venture out of the house without a coat. Daytime high: +19C.