Building safe motorways: Poland's bumpy road less traveled
Last month's Supreme Inspection Chamber (NIK) report on the state of Polish roads hit home for me. I've been spending a lot of time on the road lately or, more precisely, on Polish roads. Can Polish roads be blamed as the cause of accidents in this country? After two recent car trips to Passau, Germany using a variety of routes, I feel qualified to say that the quality of roads (and drivers) can definitely take the blame for some of the country's traffic mishaps.
On highway E67 east of Wroclaw, we rounded one bend only to discover that the road's washboard texture criss-crossed. The car became airborne. Thank goodness the vehicle was in four-wheel drive and the driver had taken an anti-terrorist driving course. Both are useful on Polish roads.
Highway E75/E67 between Czestochowa and Warsaw illustrates the point further. When one starts a journey on this highway it appears, for all intents and purposes, to be fairly new. However, the frequent "Koleiny" signs and the ruts that have developed in the right-hand lane make me question the quality of construction.
If these ruts were only for short distances, then I could understand it. But they run the entire length of the highway. This must result from either totally incompetent construction or the builders just didn't care. I can't believe that all construction companies in Poland are inept, so that leads me to believe that they just don't care. It also begs the question as to what kind of guarantees the government includes in the contracts it tenders. Is there no follow-up? When the road starts to self-destruct, can the government force the construction firm to repair its less than stellar job? Were all the government efforts at kombinowac for nothing?
I was also captivated by signs showing a person being hit by a car or alternately, two cars colliding, both with the notice "Wypadki." Stretches of road marked with these signs seem to far outnumber the stretches without. It had never occurred to me that these seemingly innocent stretches were destroyers of pedestrians, drivers and cars.
The sad condition of Polish roads was further highlighted when we entered the Czech Republic. I had given Poland the benefit of the doubt it's still recovering from its communist past, its growth in car ownership has outpaced its ability to build good roads (true) ... But alas, the Czech Republic faced similar strictures and obstacles and its roads are quite nice, thank-you very much. There were a few bumps here and there, but nothing I haven't encountered on any road in any other civilized (and for that matter, uncivilized) country.
Not all roads in Poland are bad though. The best blacktop I've encountered were smaller secondary roads that run from east to west such as the road between Bialowieza and Brok. Although these generally connect smaller communities, they still get constant use and seem to be holding up well. Who built them? And why? Not that it really matters. What matters is that they are good roads. Hmmm ... I wonder if these mystery builders would give lessons?
