Thursday, 19 September 2013

S2 opens to Puławska; sewer's now laid

A landmark day when it comes to infrastructure. On my way to work this morning, I noticed traffic coming off the S2 and onto ul Puławska. More than 15 months late - but hey, time to celebrate. But the new expressway linking Ursynów to Lisbon is a double-edged sword. All that extra traffic being disgorged off the new road onto Puławska has the effect of bunging up what is an already congested thoroughfare.

My journey to Poleczki Business Park, a point-to-point distance of 6km, took one hour and five minutes. The 715 bus took 15 minutes to get from Trombity bus stop to Puławska. And this is on Day One of the S2, before too many motorists knew it was opened. I shall be monitoring the situation closely.

It will still be years before this new bit of road is extended eastward; maybe by 2020? Until then, the road ends here. I hope that as promised by the former head of Warsaw's public transport authority, Leszek Ruta, there will be a bus lane laid down on Puławska, all the way from Piaseczno to Wilanowska.

While on the subject of buses, the shortening of the 306 so that it no longer connects Poleczki Business Park with Puławska and Ursynów leaves the PBP woefully under-served with public transport. And the 319, now down to three return trips a day, is ridiculous; yesterday I was one of only six people to be using the full-length bendy-bus (max. capacity 167 passengers) all the way from Jeziorki to Wilanowska. Running only between 8am and 9am, it's too late for the school run. It should be re-scheduled to connect Jeziorki to the outside world between 6am and 8am - then it would be carrying far more passengers.

Nearly 9am and the 319 is running empty

Coming home this evening I noticed that all the cars on the estate were back inside; the paving stones on the drive have been re-laid. Within the confines of our estate the lateral sewers have been installed, though they've yet to connect our waste-water outfalls with the town drains. Outside on ul. Trombity it's still muddy chaos; around half the planned length of the main sewer running down the road has been laid. Onwards, then, from no. 18 to no. 24. It will still be a few weeks before everything is finished, connected and cleaned up, but as of today the main work in our drive seems to have been completed. There will still be one more visit of the szambo man to empty the septic tank - maybe two, then we shall be able flush the loo and empty the bath without trepidation or uncertainty.

This time last year:

This time two years ago:
Push-pull for Mazowsze

This time three years ago:
Okęcie runway repairs are complete

This time five years ago:
I know that painting from somewhere...

This time six years ago:
The March of Progress, ul. Postępu

2 comments:

Bob said...

Was on Pulawska yesterday to pick Ewa up from the airport.

Let's say the roadworks were done well to get that out of my comments - we will see on that as time goes by.

Here are the issues I saw from my first run.

Going north from the bustling metropolis of Piaseczno - there should be signs much earlier informing drivers what is coming up - typically - 1st should be 1km then, 500m, then 250 and so on.

Also the sign is confusing - it shows that a right turn must be made to get on the S2 BUT just after the sign is a side road that does not lead to the S2 and many drivers I saw took that and there was mass confusion when they realized it was the wrong road, people were jamming their brakes on thinking they missed the turn off and there were a couple of clowns backing down Pulawska trying to get on the 'msed access road' even though it was the wrong road. A balagan for sure that needs to be corrected.

The sign when it finally appears is unduly complicated afterall from Pulawska at this time there is only one direction to travel in. Simplify, simplify.

Returning back toward Piaseczno, same issue about singange - nothing whatsoever until one is about 250 meters from the junction - should start back at least by the Real store.

The traffic lights are poorly synchronized.

Dumb, implementation - as usual.

student SGH said...

Everything has to fall into place, it's just a matter of time. The chaos that accompanied the opening was temporary, on Friday traffic on ul. Puławska was back into normal density and pace. It is quite obvious Puławska needs to have the priority, S2 will make to with shorter green light times, the capacity is well enhanced by 3 or 4 lanes, so even if the greet light cycle is short, many vehicles can pass the intersection.

P&R Al. Krakowska is not a commuting alternative - takes some 5 minutes longer to get to work, distance in both direction is 29 kilometres vs. 17 kilometres to Metro Stokłosy and back (translates into 100 PLN more spent/wasted of fuel) and getting out of it is a nuisance (short slip lane being simultaneously the turning-left lane).

But driving the expressway is a great pleasure :)