A1 Gdañsk to Toruñ Motorway, Poland

With Poland integrated into the European Union, the country's infrastructure has begun the long process of being upgraded. One of the major projects is the A1 motorway (E75), which is a design, build, finance and operate (DBFO) project. The road will form part of the European integrated road network, the most northerly section of the EU TENS transport corridor.

The motorway will provide an improved link between the north and south of Poland from the Baltic ports of Gdańsk and Gdynia across the country to Vienna, Austria, and then through Slovenia to meet the Mediterranean and the Adriatic.

This means there will be a single transport priority route running from northern European to the south. The Polish section of the A1 will run for 568km from Gdańsk through Toruń, Łódź, Częstochowa and Katowice to Gorzyczki on the border.

TWO PHASES

The construction of the Polish section of the A1 is in two phases. The first section of 89.45km runs from Gdansk to Nowe Marzy in the north and was opened to traffic on 17 October 2008. Phase two will be a 60km section that will extend the southern end of the A1 to Torun, with completion set for 2011. The project is expected to cost around €667.5m. The motorway will be toll free until 5 January 2008.

PARTNERS

The Gdańsk Transport Company (GTC) was set up in 1996 for the purpose of completing the A1 motorway. The GTC is composed of several partners including John Laing (a 29% share holder), Skanska ID (a subsidiary of Skanska AB Group), Intertoll of Poland and NDS SA of South Africa.

The road is a public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement between the GTC and the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways. The concession to operate the two road sections over a period of 34 years was granted to the GTC in August 2004.

The design and construction contract of phase one of the motorway was granted to the joint venture of Skanska Poland and NDI SA, while the supply and installation of the tolling equipment was granted to Intertoll Polska (also responsible for operations and routine maintenance).

FINANCE

The finance has been raised by the GTC from two sources in Europe. The two banks involved are the European Investment Bank and the Nordic Investment Bank.

John Laing, as part of the GTC partnership, has a commitment of €11.5m to phase one of the project. Finance was closed for phase one in September 2005. The financial arrangements for phase two have not yet been released.

MOTORWAY STRUCTURE

The motorway is a dual carriageway with two lanes in each direction and an emergency lane as well as a median barrier. Bridges and overpasses will be constructed as necessary to cross rail lines and rivers. There will be one toll plaza on phase one of the road and toll arrangements on the slip road junctions.

The construction of phase one has required earth works amounting to the movement of 16 million tonnes of earth to prepare the road bed. In addition, materials required for construction include 175,000t of cement, 100,000m³ of concrete and 1.6 million tonnes of bitumen mixture. There are 86 engineered structures (including 30 bridges, 37 overpasses, and 19 underpasses); six two-level road interchanges (Rusocin, Stanislawie, Swarozyn, Pelplin, Kopytkowo, Nowe Marzy); four level crossings for railways; three pairs of service areas (Kleszczewko, Olsze and Gajewo); two maintenance facilities at Pelplin and Nowe Marzy; two high -speed weight in motion sites; and a traffic control room at the Pelplin maintenance depot.

SOIL STABILISATION

The Wirtgen Group provided soil stabilisation equipment for the A1 and Hamm provided compactors and rollers. The soil layer was stabilised to a depth of 50cm and was then overlaid with a 20cm frost blanket and a four-layer asphalt system with a total depth of 26cm. There were ten soil stabilisers used (WR 2000 and WR 2500) and 30 single drum compactors and tyred rollers.