New airport terminal may mean more traffic jams for Warsaw travelers

Okźcie Airport's 2005 expansion plan could be undermined by the lack of an adequate connection to downtown Warsaw, industry sources said last week. While the infrastructure link exists on paper, both the city and the airport authorities said they don't have the money to finance the project. The Polish Airport Authority (PPL) last month selected a contractor to build the airport's second terminal, which would expand Okźcie's capacity to 10 million passengers annually. The terminal has already exceeded its capacity of 3.5 million, with 4.7 million travelers passing through it gates last year. The number of passengers is rising by almost 10% every year, and the International Air Transport Association predicts that some 10 million travelers will touch down at Okźcie in 2010. But while the new terminal will be able to serve twice as many customers in three years' time, road access to central Warsaw, which is already congested, will be unable to cope when traffic doubles, industry sources said. "For the moment it's acceptable, but in case they want to expand the airport, access infrastructure has to be adapted," said Christopher Zimmer, Lufthansa Poland's country manager. But the airport, city authorities and the government have turned a blind eye to the issue, hoping that the other two parties will cover the costs. "PPL is spending zł. 1 billion ($238 million) on the second terminal, so we cannot afford to build road connections," said Bogdan Chudziak, PPL's airport expansion director.

Pie in the sky PPL put together its plan for expanding infrastructure access, which foresees the city of Warsaw and the government's road management agency (GDDP) paying nearly all of the costs. "The talks between us, the GDDP and the city began in late 2000," Chudziak said. "But the GDDP and the city didn't sign an agreement, saying they didn't have the required funds." PPL's blueprint calls for the city of Warsaw to develop road infrastructure surrounding to the airport at a cost of zł. 226 million ($53.8 million) and widening the existing connection to the center for zł. 90 million ($21.4 million). The government would also pay for a railway connection for zł. 170 million ($40.5 million) and a city bypass. While work on the bypass is progressing and is expected to reach the airport before the traffic doubles, none of the three parties is willing to finance direct access to the city. The two-lane ulica Żwirki i Wigury offers the only direct connection to the center today and is already bursting at the seams. "It's tight even now," Chudziak said. "Żwirki i Wigury sees 34,000 cars a day. That's a lot." PPL's plan envisages a third lane being added to Żwirki i Wigury, with construction scheduled to start this year and finish in 2004, but nothing has happened yet. "The idea is very problematic," said Jerzy Zdrojewski, Warsaw's vice mayor. "There are historically valuable linden trees along the street and, therefore, the whole project might fail." Instead, the city is considering building another road along Żwirki i Wigury. But this would cost far more than the initially planned zł. 90 million, and the city isn't willing to bankroll the investment. "I don't see an option for the city to finance that road, because we don't have the required funds and we won't have them," Zdrojewski said. "It's not only the city that bears the burden of building access to the airport. Warsaw and the entire country need this (second) terminal."

Zdrojewski hopes to reach an agreement with the GDDKiA by this fall. GDDKiA is the GDDP's successor, formed by the merger of two city agencies. Apart from links to the center, Zdrojewski said Warsaw would finance the necessary road development around the airport. But while the plan calls for construction to start this year, the money for it doesn't exist. "We'll have to find this money in our future (annual) budgets," Zdrojewski said. Okźcie is one of a few similar-sized airports in Europe that don't have a railway connection to their city centers. A two-kilometer link to a nearby line would solve the problem, and according to PPL's blueprint, it would cost about zł. 170 million ($40.5 million) by 2007. The new terminal's plans include a railway station. Still, PPL's plan would require Polish State Railways (PKP) to pay for and build the link, rather optimistic given the railways' financial problems and current moratorium on new investments. And every year that passes sees airport-access traffic get worse, jeopardizing the airport's expansion, industry sources said. The risk of getting stuck in traffic on the way to the airport will, in the end, also lengthen passengers' total traveling time, according to Zimmer. "It will be really embarrassing (if the project fails)," Chudziak added. "Instead of 15 minutes, traveling to the city center will take an hour."