STRABAG has won a €254m contract from Poland’s General Directorate for National Roads & Highways (GDDKiA) to build a 40km stretch of the S8 expressway.

Construction will begin later this month and is expected to be complete in 27 months. The scope of the work will be the building of the four-lane expressway using concrete technology. STRABAG CEO Hans Peter Haselsteiner said: "The difficult subsoil conditions of this project represent a special challenge: our great experience and our technical know-how in this field afforded us a decisive advantage and allowed us to secure the contract."

The company said the development required the subsoil to be strengthened for a total of 60,000m of piles and 700,000m3 of geotextiles. The project also includes developing a 19 km section of S8 between Walichnowy and Zloczew, 240km south west of Warsaw, and construction of under traffic of a junction to National Road 45, as well as of 16 bridges. The works will be carried out by the group subsidiaries HERMANN KIRCHNER Polska, STRABAG Sp and Heilit+Woerner Budowlana Sp.

The second section that links Zloczew and Sieradz Poludnie is 19.6 km long and is developed as a two-lane road. In addition, the deal includes the building of 18 bridges, conversion of local and municipal roads, as well as and the construction of Dabrowa Wielka rest area, including the technical infrastructure. All will be delivered by a consortium of STRABAG Sp and Heilit+Woerner Budowlana Sp. Upon completion, the Expressway S8 will run along the route Wroclaw – Lódz – Warsaw – Bialystok.

The entire road is planned to be 550km long and the S8 section from Warsaw to S61 has been planned to become part of Via Baltica. In December 2010, work on the 10.1km long Konotopa (junction with A2) to Powazkowska section has been completed, while the construction of the second 7.1km section from Modlinska to Marki is scheduled to be complete by 2012.

Another section of the S8 between Jezewo and Bialystok, stretching 24.5km, is expected to be finished by 2013 by Halcrow’s Polish based company.