The Underwater Passage Grows Realistic

The first leg of the tunnel under Martwa Wisła is now ready. The last metres proved a nuisance, the constructors admitt.

The 1070-metre tunnel is one of the largest investment in the history of Gdansk, including excavation of 250 000 cbm of soil. While the other leg is being drilled at the end of February and the beginning of March, the first leg will have a road built to the effect of becoming a part of Trasa Słowackiego, which is to combine the sea and the airport.

The deepest spot of the tunnel will be located ca. 35 m below the water level. Each leg of the tunnel will include two lanes, and at the end the both constructions will be combined with seven security passages.

"Great thanks are in order for both the builders, the general constractor, the OHL, and all companies included in the investment process" said Paweł Adamowicz, the mayor of Gdańsk. "The cooperation is at a very high level" he said.

The machine behind the success is Damroka - a powerful drill by German Herrenknecht, with a disk of almost 13 m in diameter - which started its operation half a year ago.

"The last metres of drilling were the ardous work of getting through the concrete cover of the shaft" explains Magdalena Skorupka-Kaczmarek, the spokesperson of the GIK.

Will the works go smoothly now, after the first leg is finished, and the ground is now recognized?

"I must say that my satisfaction is great, though the driling conditions are quite difficult" admitted Ryszard Trykosko, the president of GIK. "W can't allow ourselves to be misled with the notion of omniscience. We need to keep alert and scrupulous" he said.