New heart for Wrocław

 Budimex-Dromex recently signed an agreement to reconstruct Plac Grunwaldzki in Wrocław. Works will be launched within the next couple of weeks.

At the beginning of 2007 there will be a huge roundabout, a public transport hub with nine tram lines and eight bus lines in the center and a subway with an underground entrance to a new shopping mall, which will be built on the corner of ul. Piastowska and Szczytnicka. The mall will be developed by Echo Investment by the end of 2008. The roundabout will cost some zł.87 million and the shopping center more than zł.30 million.

At the same time, the Road and Transportation Authority (ZDiK) in Wrocław is planning another investment. Szczytnicki Bridge, part of the international EUR 67 route leading towards Plac Grunwaldzki, also needs refurbishing. The traffic on the bridge, built in 1890, is estimated at some 34,000 vehicles daily, with 19 percent of this lorries, and commercial traffic is also increasing. ZDiK estimates the cost of the investment at some zł.36 million. Works are scheduled for completion within 21 months after the contract is signed.

Ewa Mazur, a spokesperson for Wrocław's ZDiK, says both investments have been waiting for completion for the last couple of months. "Both investments were stopped by the court because a tender participant, who lost the tender, sued ZDiK and now we still have to wait for the court's decision in terms of the Szczytnicki Bridge investment," she says. The tender was won by Skanska but the contract cannot yet be signed.

Both investments will not only improve the image of Wrocław but also increase safety and convenience on the city's streets, but the works will mean disruptions for pedestrians and drivers. "Before that it will be a real burden for drivers because the traffic will have to be diverted to narrower streets. We will try to ease the traffic jams," adds Mazur.

Andrzej Wróbel