Wiślana measure: The weather does not impede the construction of the canal excavation

Despite the strong windand stormThis work is progressing at a good pace in the construction of the Vistula Canal. Many are constantly happening in both the external port, the central part of the investment and in the artificial island area," the Maritime Office in Gdynia stated on Friday.

Dig up the Vistula Meter Channel includes the construction of a shield port on the side of the Gulf of Gdańsk, a shipping channel with a lock and a closure structure and waiting positions from the side of the Gulf of Gdańsk and the Vistula Basin, as well as a new road layout with rotary bridges and the construction of an artificial island in Zalew.

All indications are that by the end of this year the first ships will sail through a canal on the Vistula Measure. We do not want to indicate a specific date, because we have a difficult element in launching the watertight gate. The whole investment will have an impact on the launch of Eastern Poland – areas that had no chance of development. I hope that this will change and that we will begin a new stage in the development of Elbląg and other towns that lie on the Basin.

Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Marek Grobarczyk

The new shipping channel is expected to be a kilometer long and five metres deep. "The investment of the Maritime Office in Gdynia represents a major engineering challenge and not only. The General Contractor, the NDI/Besix consortium, still maintains an impressive pace of work" - said the Maritime Office in Gdynia.

The outer port consists of the Eastern and Western breakwaters. The eastern half-wall is made up to 24 sections – both from the outside and from the inside. Stone bedspreads were made to support and support energy dissipating elements, i.e. the innovative x-block plus elements used here. These bedspreads are zero. We need to get them above sea level and then to target altitude, which is 5 and 6.5 meters.

Andrzej Malkiewicz, Head of the Investment Implementation Department of the Maritime Office in Gdynia

The work on the Western breakwater is much more advanced, as it was made on a watershed shielded by the Eastern breakwater. Only the last sections and the head section remained until implementation.

Work is also ongoing on the shipping channel. In the southern part, the assembly of the equipment has been completed, recyclable works are carried out, and a bedspread made of broken stone on the slopes made of water has been completed. In the northern part, the work is related to the assembly of the cartridge elements.

In the central part of the construction the contractor completed all basic, structural, reinforced concrete works. For the mucus the reinforced concrete works have been completed, construction works are underway related to the assembly of the steel structure of the gates. All four gates have already been delivered for construction. As for gates No. 1 and No. 2 in the southern pocket, we end the stage of their integration and begin the first motion tests – added Mariusz Janczewski, deputy project director from the NDI/Besix consortium.

Before the contractor one of the sensitive moments for this investment, i.e. flooding the mucus, which will be a long-term process and dependent on the results of individual tests.

"After testing and flooding the airlock with water, we will be able to complete the groundwork (...), so that the entire channel for the potential future shipping can be completed" - said Mariusz Janczewski.

Many are also happening in the artificial island area, which is to be a bird paradise on the Vistula River. It is estimated that the island is made in about 80 percent.

"There is a northern gate closed on the island, which awaits us at the end of the work. There is also a part of the geotube and a deposit of stone of this geotube with the formation of cliffs" – said Mariusz Sasin, director of the construction of the island from NDI. "At the moment, we are taking the weather days to carry out work on both the island and the work that is profitable on the track and the shipping channel. It's not easy because we have it every week. storm"He pointed out.

The Maritime Office in Gdynia emphasized that the coming end of the works is evidenced by the fact that the temporary wharf, called "collegiate" by the builders, is being dismantled. It was a warehouse, transshipment site from which material was transported to make an artificial island bulkhead.

"By the end of February we have a plan to dismantle the whole quay and leave the water clear, as at the beginning of the construction," said Mariusz Sasin.

Electrical, teletechnical and sanitary works are also conducted. Among other things, the construction of electricity and telecommunications networks along the technology road at the Western breakwater is ongoing. There is also a installation of elements of the surveillance television system in the northern and southern bridge area. A rain drain is being built in the area of the transhipment and connection waterfront, as well as linear drainage at the connecting waterfront and in the area from the southern bridge to the northern bridge of the western excavation.

In addition, the superior control system is running. Integration into the North Bridge and Southern Bridge automation system and external systems installed on the crossing site is also ongoing.

The construction of a canal on Wiślana – the first part of the entire investment, is to be completed in 2022. The new waterway from the Gulf of Gdańsk through the Vistula Basin to Elbląg is a stretch about 25 kilometres long.

Written by Agnieszka Libudzka/PAP