Short roads to nowhere

Two days walking around the S7 extension - yesterday's stroll was marred by the disappearance from my camera's memory card of all but two photos. Never mind - I go again, this time with added snow.

Today I will be focusing on questionable bits of building which add to costs and whose benefits won't be seen for years if ever.

Below: I have written back in September about this stump running east from Węzeł (junction) Zamienie. Four lanes of asphalt extend 134 metres from the roundabout visible on the horizon, with a pavement along one side. In the foreground, a slip-road runs off to the right to connect the service road that runs parallel to the S7 extension up as far as ulica Baletowa in Dawidy. Note the five street lamps.

But where will it go? Below: looking east towards the railway line, 210 metres away and Jezorki beyond. There lies ul. Dawidowska. This is ul. Dawidowska. It suggests that the two ends of the street will one day be joined by a second railway viaduct, less than 400 metres south of the existing one on ul. Karczunkowska. Plus, the fact that there are two lanes in both directions suggest not only that any new viaduct is likely to be that wide, but that ul. Dawidowska in Jeziorki - a very quiet and rustic residential street - will be significantly widened and turned into a major thoroughfare.

Across the viaduct that lies at the heart of Węzeł Zamienie, on the Zamienie side, the same phenomenon can be observed - a short stump of dual carriageway leading - as yet - nowhere. Below: looking west from the top of the roundabout that lies on the border of Zamienie and Dawidy Bankowe. It runs about 50 metres before coming to an abrupt stop at the walls of the local sewage treatment plant. 

Below: looking east at the roundabout from the other end of this stump, with the Action warehouse to the right. 

So before the planned route from Jancewicze to Mysiadło via Zamienie and Jeziorki can be built, a sewage treatment plant needs to be relocated and a bridge placed over a main railway line. In other words, in some highly unspecified time in the future. Until then, nearly 200 metres of dual carriageway with attendant infrastructure will have been built, to sit underutilised for - who knows? Decades? 

Now, southward, along the western service road running parallel to the S7 between Zamienie and Nowa Wola. This was once ul. Wróbelka (lit. 'little sparrow street'); I guess the service road will get the same name. Ul. Wróbelka used to lead from Zamienie to Zgorzała - now sliced apart from each other with just two viaducts to link them, one a footbridge, the other open to all traffic.

Walking along this stretch of service road, I'm shocked at how many access roads have had to be built here. The reason is clear - by law, builders of all new roads must give access to each plot running off them. Now, the S7 cuts the land here like a chainsaw going through dense muscle fibre. 

Below: this is the local authority map son which I've marked the route of the S7 extension between Zamienie (top left) and Zgorzała (bottom right). The thin blue lines show the boundaries of each plot. This is fascinating, as you can see that as of the most recent update, there are still chunks of expressway that are still not legally in state ownership! Click to enlarge, or visit Lesznowola.e-mapa.net.

You can see how narrow and long the plots are. Many are still in agricultural use; the farmers living in Zgorzała are no longer able to cultivate their land easily; they will have to go round the long way to reach the far end of their land. Below: this is how it looks in practice. Each plot is just ten metres wide. Many have been consolidated into larger plots - but not in the eyes of the law. Many are fallow and have not been cultivated for years. But even so, each ten-metre-wide plot gets its own access road.

The stump to the hump - even if it's not currently in agricultural use, but used for storage of soil for construction purposes (below), it has its own access road, too flimsy for use by heavy earth-moving trucks or diggers.

I climb it to get this photo (below) to show the absurdity of the situation. You can see how many there are - with several yet to be completed at the northern end. Each access road has to go over the drainage ditch, with a tunnel running under it.

So - there we are. If you want to know why building motorways over flat terrain is so expensive - this is why. While I'm here, more from Węzeł Zamienie as it nears completion. Below: signage is up. Looking towards ul. Arakowa, Zamienie.

Below: looking towards the footbridge taking shape 500 metres to the south of the main (pedestrian-free) viaduct over the S7 extension.

Below: looking north towards Węzeł Lotnisko; still plenty to do. Open to traffic this time next year? All depends on Section B, between Lesznowola and Tarczyn - still a muddy gash across the landscape.

Below: looking at Węzeł Zamienie from the roundabout on the boundary between Zamienie (to the right) and Dawidy Bankowe (to the left). Turn here for Warsaw, Kraków and Zgorzała.

Waiting now just for lane markings - the viaduct over the S7 extension.

This time last year:
Mole control

This time two years ago:
Poland's education paradox

This time three years ago:
What I was going to say at COP24 (but didn't)

This time four years ago:
Milton Keynes

This time five years ago:
Warsaw by night, early winter

This time eight years ago:
Burn less gas and do Ukraine a favour

This time 11 years ago:
Early evening atmosphere

This time 13 years ago:
Toponyms - how many names has Jeziorki?

This time 14 years ago:
On the road to Białystok