Sunday, 5 January 2020

POW - early 2020 update

Eight months after the recent major photo round-up and nearly three months after posting most recent snaps, time to spend most of a short, a yet bright day to catch up with progress of works on POW construction site west of Vistula.

The weather looked out perfect as seen from a warm interior. In fact, temperature today creeped barely above zero, while outside, unless you took shelter from the chilly wind, it felt like almost -10C. Fortunately, I have not decided to put up for sale my thermal long johns and vest, purchased before the trip beyond the polar circle and today they proved useful, albeit I felt kind of overheated when marching briskly through areas shielded from wind and lit by sunrays.

The morning part of the trip commenced around 10 a.m., after I returned from the swimming pool. Having donned the thermal underwear (and regular outerwear) I jumped into 504 bus, rode 3 stops, alit it and rambled towards the southern end of ul. Indiry Gandhi. At the corner of ul. Pileckiego and ul. Indiry Gandhi I passed what 2 weeks ago had most probably been a Christmas-tree stall. Today the sellers were long gone, unsold trees remained. I wondered whether they had been chopped down legally. Felt sorry for the trees, unlike plastic substitutes, they would not decompose after 400 years, yet each year too few Xmas trees are sold in pots and then replanted.

Having mused about trees, I reached the spot were a new intersection of ul. Indiry Gandhi and ul. Płaskowieckiej should be built. The construction crews so far were focusing on re-laying underground installations. Without the intersection, junction Ursynów Zachód will be rendered useless.

I crossed ul. Płaskowickiej and scrambled up an earth mound in the shrubs. The viaduct in the distance on the afore-mentioned junction will carry eastbound traffic onto Ursynów and should bring relief to ever-clogged ul. Puławska. I had decided not to drive several kilometres to capture the sight of S2 roads slipping into the tunnels from the current end of the road. Not worth burning so much fuel for one photo.

Ul. Płaskowickiej will need to be broadened ahead of the link with the expressway; works on it have commenced, for no apparent reason bringing the westbound lanes close to windows of blocks built here in 2006-2007 when plans of the POW had been publicly available. No need to feel regret for dwellers.

I turned around and snapped the pavement and the cycling path along ul. Płaskowickiej behind the construction site fence. These are first elements of the pre-construction landscape restored. Although the very road is to be opened in late 2021, system of roads in Ursynów is to be back in pre-construction shape in August 2020.

The photo to the right has been taken from a pavement by ul. Pileckiego, south of ul. Płaskowickiej. One can spot the southern lanes of ul. Płaskowickiej (turned into a single carriageway 2 years ago) and original ul. Pileckiego rebuilt. The land above the POW tunnel is to be developed into a park, with lots of greenery and amenities to locals.

East of ul. Stryjeńskich there was little to boast about, at least above the ground. Nevertheless, I could not resist to snap the construction site fence next to intersection of ul. Płaskowickiej and al. KEN. It instantly brought to mind… the Berlin wall. Ursynów indeed has been divided by that construction for a while and once it is finished I will need to get accustomed to Ursynów not blotted by metal fences, mud and building machinery.

Ursynów Wschód junction, as observed from the top of the Warsaw escarpment is not an easy object to be photographed. Still I couldn’t make out where the roads carrying the traffic east from Ursynów would run. Progress since mid-October also hard to be estimated. The last morning snap, time to walk off to a bus stop by ul. Rosoła, hop on 179 bus which zigzags through Ursynów and return home.

After a lunch and a moment of rest, time to inspect developments in Wilanów. Przyczółkowa junction seems quite advanced. Yellow footbridge still lacks balustrades. Red viaducts in the distance carry two three-land roads over ul. Przyczółkowa. Konstancin-bound traffic already on target lanes, drivers heading north still need to slow down on temporary detour.

A quirky shot, taken as I was standing on cycling path running parallel to ul. Przyczółkowa, looking west at the slip road towards Ursynów, Łódź, Poznań, Berlin, Lisbon… Tarmac has not been laid, progress of works on the viaducts unknown…

Then on to ul. Wał Zawadowski. Had cycled here several times, today I first ventured there by car and felt like an intruder (despite having not violated any rules). The bridge is also not an easy object for the camera…

The pictures do not show progress on northern bridge is lower than on the southern one, whose construction had commenced earlier. Some time ago the delay on that section was said to be the longest. Today I can bet the entire Southern Bypass of Warsaw is opened in 4Q2021 and I am quite optimistic due to forecasts of mild winter continuing in January and February 2020.

Later I drove to see the viaduct on ul. Syta. One of drawbacks of taking such trips by car is a difficulty in finding a place to park the vehicle. The photo was taken through an opened window, while I stopped and turned the emergency light on. In the distance, the bridge(s) over Vistula.

The last pic, taken in the same location, half an hour before the sunset Looking west towards Ursynów, future roads clearly visible. The very viaduct seems nearly completed. I wonder whether it shares the fate of its peer on ul. Poloneza which infuriated local residents for months between actual completion and opening for traffic.

The progress is anyway best illustrated on films shot by drones, which can be found in the relevant thread of Skyscrapercity forum.

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