S7 expressway – section between Lesznowola and Tarczyn opened

Each time when a new section of an expressway was opened for traffic in the vicinity of Warsaw, I celebrated it by driving the car to a newly opened piece of infrastructure. With the section B of S7 expressway, since 27 April 2023 accessible to motorists as “passable” with a delay of some 18 months (finishing works will continue for a year or so), I refrained from such indulgence. Sooner or later I am going to use it, but I will not take any trouble to accelerate that moment.

If I avoid unnecessary journeys by car, that one definitely ranks among them. I take pleasure in driving a vehicle (unless it comes with automatic transmission or no gearbox at all), but I realise this is not an environmentally acceptable activity, hence I hold my horses, falling back on public transport, my bicycle and my feet whenever possible. Such approach benefits not only the planet, but also my fitness and my wallet.

While spending over a week in Wisła recently, the car was parked for this entire period in the garage. We moved about to shops, to the town centre or took trips by bicycle and got on with it, despite the undulating terrain. You could say to do this we had to drive almost 400 kilometres by car and then cover the same distance on our way back to Warsaw. I refute the argument by saying if you take a dog, two bicycles, suitcases, food stocks and computers, it is a bit of nuisance to travel by train (or actually to the station, by train to Bielsko-Biała and then to Wisła).

My girlfriend thought we would need a bigger car to carry all stuff. In fact, with smart packing my Megane hatchback can carry two adults, two bicycles, two suitcases, a few smaller bags and a dog which has 1 sqm area it the boot for itself. Now try to convince me there is any practicable justification to buy a hefty SUV, if a compact car is so capacious (if you need even more space, buy an estate compact car). With respect to the environmental impact, I set tempomat at 100 kmph and my excellently reliable, 12-year-old car consumes mere six and a half litres of petrol per 100 kilometres. Not little, but given its age and kilograms on board, I believe the fuel consumption is superb anyway.

Off to London for the first time in my life next weekend. Expect a coverage in two weeks!

S7 expressway – construction update

Those awaiting the annual winter timeline have to carry on patiently until 1 May 2022. Looking at the weather in April 2022, I have resolved to include the statistics for the entire month in my records. Besides, where is a little chance for the last gasp of winter in the coming days.

But last Thursday, when temperature topped above +21C, I made the most of the blast of spring, knocked off at 4:00 p.m. and cycled south of Warsaw to inspect the progress of S7 construction, on so-called section A, between Warszawa Południe and Lesznowola junctions.

The road is scheduled to be opened for traffic in October 2022 and judging by the current progress of works, the deadline is within reach. To the right – the first stop, a on service road (closed for traffic) running parallel to the expressway, south of ul. Baletowa. Sound barriers (ugly, grey concrete) are up, grass has been sown (or laid) on the slopes of viaducts carrying S7.

The first junction south of Warszawa Południe, i.e. Zamienie has been opened for the local traffic some time ago. Sadly, the new roads are anything, but cyclist-friendly and motorists do not give a damn about the 40 kmph speed limit. Hence I illegally trespassed into slip roads, to see how the works were going (and indeed builders toiled away).

I thought I would cycle through rural areas of Zamienie, along terraced houses, but soon I ran across this estate of block of flats. I hold the view if one decides to move to the distant outskirts of a city, one trades drawbacks of living in a block of flat for other drawbacks and for merit of living in a house with a garden. Asking prices of flats on Zielone Zamienie housing estate begin from 6,865 zlotys per square metre.

I thought underground garages have become a standard in new, civilised developments. Car are parked underground (with all benefits of convenience and protection from the elements of weather), while spaces around buildings are green areas which serve as leisure spaces for residences. Not in Zielone Zamienie premises – here the greenery had to give way to concrete car parks which surround the buildings from all sides.

Yes, it was supposed to be about the S7 construction, but instead of heading towards a viaduct above S7, my curiosity told me to cycle down ul. Pionowa in Nowa Wola. A yet another example of an estate built in the middle of nowhere. I hope at least the local dwellers have a grocery shop in the area. Do not ask where the nearest public transport stop is (I believe the correct answer is “around 2 miles / 3 kilometres from there”).

A short stopover in my trip (31 kilometres being the longest ride this year) by a pond in Nowa Wola. Behind it, a classic volunteer firemen’s station (remiza Ochotniczej Straży Pożarnej), with a classic watch tower. The rural area has its charm, felt most a warm spring late afternoon.

Having pedalled south, I (again illegally) got into a viaduct which will one day carry Droga Wojewódzka 721 dual carriageway over the S7. Good they have built a full junction, a pity is will be useless for years ahead. Here, looking south, S7 approaching Lesznowola junction. The progress of works indicates opening the section in October is utterly doable.

A snap looking north, from basically the same spot. The junction with DW 721 has taken shape and after the S7 is opened, will become a monument of dismal coordination of public tenders in Poland.

The last shot comes from a viaduct carrying a new road between Zamienie and Zgorzała or Nowa Wola. Needless to say, I trespassed the area illegally. Except for looking at the expressway and the service road, note the cranes in Zamienie which turn the village into a town with tens of blocks of flats and the grey detached house west of S7. Who the hell has decided to settle down so close to the noise and fumes from the fast traffic?

S7 will not give me much improvement. It may offer an alternative to ul. Puławska if I drive to my parents (no traffic lights along the way mean driving at a steady speed and lower fuel consumption if I drive at reasonable 90 – 100 kmph). To Kraków I go by train, trips to other places in Poland are infrequent (no more than 3 times a year). I hope once S7 takes the strain from ul. Puławska, public transport is finally given priority on it (after opening the tunnel beneath Ursynów as part of S2 expressway and setting up bus lanes in Dolinka Służewiecka, traffic jams on the latter and not worse than with one lane for passenger cars more, but without the tunnel).

S7 expressway - progress check

Decided to make the most of yesterday’s first whiff of spring in March (in late February temperature topped over +18C twice, more on this in the annual Winter timeline, due in a fortnight), lugged my bike out of the basement, donned a thin face mask, a helmet and rode to inspect the progress on nearby S7 expressway construction site. Cycling note – this year instead of having my bike serviced at Decathlon, I did the brake adjustments, screwdriving, tyre change and chain lubricating and other stuff on my own. It spared me some 100 zlotys, saved not for a rainy day, but for time more conducive to living it up.

Having cycled through Las Kabacki, crossed ul. Puławska and cut across the cemetery in Pyry I find myself by ul. Baletowa. Here the road has been routed into a tunnel, wide enough to fit two lanes and pavements on both sides. It is around 11:00 a.m., traffic quite sparse so far.

On the western side of the tunnel, looking north towards Warszawa Południe junction (lamp posts in the distance are at the end of the finished, yet closed section of the expressway). Except for the excavator and the truck, no machinery nor workers on site. Feel kind of sorry for dwellers of nearby houses who have lived here for decades and soon they will need to put up with the neighbourhood of a noisy and fume-producing fast traffic.

Then I cycle south through Dawidy Bankowe. A shot taken from a bus stop by ul. Starzyńskiego, looking east towards the railway tracks. The sandy bottom layer of the expressway’s foundation is well visible. Watch out for the spot which has blotted all zoomed pictures taken with my 2012 compact Olympus camera since early 2018. I have got used to that mark, the bigger the higher optical zoom I set.

Down in Zgorzała, standing by ul. Dawidowska, looking north. The viaduct in the distance seems to be a part of the Zamienie junction, currently having no link to the existing road infrastructure.

Standing nearly in the same spot, looking south. The pylons suggest ul. Dawidowska will run beneath the expressway in a tunnel. For no apparent reason, this venue does not exhibit a high progress of works.

Still in Zgorzała, looking west towards housing estates in Zamienie whose dwellers will also find the expressway audible (despite noise barriers, humming can be heard within half a mile from a fast-traffic carriageway).

The viaduct marked on the map of the project as WD-4 is now in the middle of a field, but it is bound to link ul. Raszyńska in Zamienie with ul. Postępu in Zgorzała (i.e. the place from which the snap was taken).

On to Nowa Wola where ul. Krasickiego also has been put into a tunnel. If you zoom in, you should see lighting installed inside it. Inside the tunnel actually everything seems to be nearly ready, while outside there is no point in doing any finishing works, as construction machines would spoil the effects of tidying up.

I was quite astonished to behold two flyovers built over ul. Postępu in Nowa Wola. As it turns out, they are a part of a bigger junction connecting the designed DW721 and S7. The viaduct will carry slip roads – the north will take westbound traffic from Piaseczno to Warsaw, the south one will take all northbound traffic from S7 towards both Piaseczno and Lesznowola.

The last shot comes from ul. Słoneczna in Kolonia Lesznowola, where the current DW721 runs into the tunnel. All 3 tunnels I photographed are quite similar. Less than a mile south from here the section A has its end. Further works are not carried out after the National Road Authority has terminated agreement with the general contractor of section B. If the section A is completed within the deadline, first drivers should be able to get from Warszawa Południe junction to Lesznowola, and no further, in November 2022.

Cycled home through Piaseczno. Traffic was quite dense given several types of shops are shut down since today. Then through Las Kabacki again. As I approach home, I run across a scene customary on ul. Moczydłowska on Saturdays and Sundays – a Straż Miejska patrol putting wheel blockers to drivers who illegally parked their cars in a residential zone. I am all into this. Feel like strolling into the forest – take a longer walk and leave your car (if public transport or bike are not an option) where it is permitted, instead of almost driving into the very woodland!