Interview with Mr Pawel Szumera, direktor of Regional Road Administration in Lublin.

December 4, 2020
Posted by: Anna Maria Ososińska

Regional Road Administration in Lublin is completing the project “Extension of a voivodeship road No 812 on the section Korolówka – Włodawa’

Why the reconstruction of this particular road is so important for Lubelskie region?

Build at 1950s the voivodeship road No 812 link the city of Biała Podlaska with Włodawa, Chełm and Krasnystaw on a distance of 151 km. The importance of the road was underlined by the fact that till the year of 2000 it had a status of the national road, marked as DK83. In 2005-2006, we financed the extension and renovation of the Biała Podlaska – Wisznice section from EU funds. In later years, with the own funds of the Lubelskie Voivodeship, we carried out repairs and reconstructions on several short sections, several hundred meters long, mainly in built-up areas.

Other fragments of the road ‘resisted’ the modernisation or extension. It was the same with the section Korolówka – Włodawa until 2018 and it was visible with a naked eye. We can even say, as the song says : “ you can feel it and hear”. You could hear it when you are located in one of the building nearby; you could feel it and hear when driving as a driver or a passenger of the car, especially when you are travelling with a low speed – you heard a loud train noise and feel bumping, especially when your car has older springs.

‘A nightmare for drivers and a shame for the voivodeship’ – with those words a journalist of web portal WWW.lublin112.pl described the section from Włodawa to Korolówka and then to Wisznice on 2015.

What was done within the framework of this project?

First of all, the road was extended, i.e. widened, equipped with shoulders. Strength and load capacity of the road increased. Eight typical road crossings and one roundabout were rebuilt. Eight bus bays have been built – that was very important, especially where the stop was previously located along the road, i.e. the bus simply stopped on the road, encumbering the cars traffic, and now buses can stop in a special bay to safely drop off passengers; bicycle paths were built; and of course, such typical things as the construction of culverts, drainage, construction and reconstruction of rumps, etc. was made.

Is it true that thanks to the technology used during the works, the extension had a positive influence into the natural environment?

Yes. The old road was built of concrete slabs. Using traditional methods, these slabs would have to be removed and stored in a landfill. The amount of debris that should be transported to the landfill site is almost equal to 6,000 cubic meters. What does it mean? This volume is equal to the volume of a full-size Olympic pool with a depth of four meters. Or in other worlds – Please imagine that we are putting side by side 10 or 11 one-story terrace houses, each of a 100m² of the usable floor space. That shows the amount of the debris. Thanks to the modern technique of Rublizzing, instead of taking the slabs to a landfill, they were shredded and used as a foundation for a new road. It is worth to mention, that the entire investment was carried out in compliance with the principles of environmental protection. The construction site was equipped with chemical agents (sorbents) to neutralize possible leaks from construction machinery and minimize the possibility of soil contamination, that means that in case of any leak of hazardous substances, they are immediately removed, and the collected material is handed over by an authorized entity for disposal. The waste was selectively stored on a sealed and hardened ground. Mobile toilets were provided and a domestic sewage was collected in tight tanks. Before the works starts, the trees located along the construction site were secured by special wrapping material.

I presume that the construction works were oppressive for local inhabitants, as it take place in case of any road repairs?

We did everything we could to minimize the oppressiveness of the works for local inhabitants and for all road users. Therefore any works were provided exclusively during the day time. To minimise inconveniences in road traffic for both, inhabitants and road users, the special bypasses were built on built-up area of Włodawa town (on Korolowska street), where the traffic is really high, and outside the urban area, the alternating traffic on short road sections was introduced.

Is it true, that the project was finance by the cross border cooperation programme?

Yes. The voivodeship road no 812 has a special importance for the border regions of both, Poland and Ukraine. It is the shortest way from Biała Podlaska to the border crossing point in Dorohusk, linking the East-North Poland with a main route to Kiev. The alternative road heading from Biała Podlaska to Kiev, Lutsk and other Ukrainian cities is going through the territory of Belarus. It means the drivers from Poland or other EU country are obliged to have a Belarus visa and undergo obligatory custom control. That’s why the road is used also as a transit route from Lithuania to Ukraine. Taking into consideration the importance of the road for border area, the project received EU financial support from ENI Crossborder Cooperation Programme Poland-Belarus-Ukraine 2014-2020 amounting to more than 5.600.000 euro. The own contribution to the project budget is covered from the own financial sources of the Lubelskie Voivodeship.

What is the role of a partner in your project?

We are implementing the project together with Volyn Regional State Administration. It is an amazing partner, always active during the meetings of the joint Steering Committee, ready to exchange knowledge and experience of roads reconstruction techniques and methods.

We delivered together an international conference untitled ‘Improving the quality of road infrastructure’, organised under auspice of Mr Zdzisław Szwed, the Member of the Management Board of Lubelskie Voivodeship in 2019. This conference dedicated to the road building and maintenance as well as the modern methods of the regional road network management. Such distinguished personalities upon the world of education in Lubelskie, as e.g. associate professor of the Lublin University of Technology, Head of the Department of Roads and Bridges, Mr. Janusz Bohatkiewicz. His associates, young scientists of Lubelskie, as e.g. Ph.D. eng. J. Kukiełka, MSc eng. M. Jukowski and MSc eng. M. Hałucha had their talks during the conference. Associates of Prof. Ph.D. eng. Mr Wojciech Franus, Deputy Dean of Architecture and Design Faculty, the Head of Geotechnology Department, Ph.D. eng. A. Woszuk and MSc eng. P.Miduch presented the results of their researches. Candidate of Technical Science, associated professor Mr A. Bondarsky, Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Design of the Lutsk National Technical University presented the researches performed by the Ukrainian scientists.

What do you plan to do in the future? Will you forget about this road?

Oh, no. We purchased the special equipment for summer and winter road maintenance within the project. It consists of the vehicle Unimog with removable implements that allows for example, simultaneous mowing of a strip of grass with a width up to 8 meters by installing three mowers simultaneously on a special booms, which are controlled directly from the driver’s cabin using a joystick, such as the one used for computer games; a snowplough with variable snow removal geometry and a spreader for sand/atifreeser dispenser. Thanks to this equipment, the Regional Roads Administration in Lublin will ensure the proper maintenance of the road No. 812 without waiting for any subcontractors.

What is the importance of this investment and of the project?

First of all, the completion of the project means increase of the Włodawa region accessibility, increase of the bearing capacity of the shortest way from Biała Podlaska to the border crossing point in Dorohusk. It means improved access to Łęczynsko-włodawski lake region in Poland and to Shack National Park in Ukraine. It means use of a modern technique in concrete roads renovation, that positively influence natural environment. It’s applying of so called universal design to make the road accessible to all people, regardless of age, disability or other factors. It’s increase of the road users safety by building of the pedestrian pavements and bike paths.