2020-12-18

The Red Road - Gdynia’s Priority

On 26 November this year, the leaders of Port of Gdynia Authority SA and the City of Gdynia signed an agreement routing the Red Road as part of the last mile of road access to the Port of Gdynia and Poland’s sea border. The route is also meant to improve the City’s communication accessibility.

“The Port of Gdynia is developing very dynamically so we have to focus on investments that will make it more accessible. And road access is undoubtedly the Achilles’ heel of not just the Port, but the entire City. The investment will also be crucial in terms of the Outer Port construction. Therefore, we hope it will be completed in 8 years at the latest, in 2028, together with the Outer Port,” Adam Meller, President of PoGA, says.

The Red Road is intended to be 9.5 km long and ensure a direct connection between the Port of Gdynia and the national road network, including the Expressway S6. The new dual carriageway section will run from the Port to the intersection of Morska Street with the Tri-City Ring Road and is meant to replace the more and more busy Kwiatkowski Flyover that requires renovation. The investment will improve the Port’s land-side accessibility and thus increase its transshipment capacity. The routing of the Road became possible after the government’s declarations on financing the project, and the signature of the related agreement will significantly accelerate investment implementation by the Ministry of Infrastructure. Its cost is estimated to be no more than 2 billion zloty and relevant funds are allocated in the amended Act on Sea Ports and Harbours.

“I hope that the construction will start in the coming years. The Red Road is important and necessary already. We have to meet transport expectations, but also integrate the Road into the urban fabric. Because the City and the Port are two lungs of the same system, with the Red Road as an important element of its bloodstream,” Wojciech Szczurek, Mayor of Gdynia, emphasises.

As Katarzyna Gruszecka-Spychała, Deputy Mayor of Gdynia for Economy, points out, the investment will allow to provide an increasingly essential alternative to the traffic of heavy goods vehicles from and to port terminals along the constantly busy Kwiatkowski Flyover that is in need of renovation. In addition, the Red Road will facilitate the development of the areas in its direct vicinity and provide access to the planned Logistic Valley of over 260 ha, now covered by the administrative borders of the Port of Gdynia, as well as to, located within the Valley, the Central Car Park and other services related to the Port of Gdynia’s operations. Furthermore, the Road will allow to better separate the port road traffic from the urban traffic, thus contributing to an increased road traffic safety and improved functioning of public transport vehicles.

The route is also one of the most significant elements of the road access to the planned Outer Port in Gdynia, that is supposed to start its operations in 2028. The Outer Port is to be built based on the existing Silesian Quay, on an artificial land going beyond the present protective breakwater that will increase the Port’s area by 151 ha and its transshipment capacity by 2.5 million TEU. The aim of its construction is to make it possible to handle in Gdynia container ships up to 430 m long (up to 490 m in the long term), up to 60 m wide (up to approx. 70 m in the long term) and with draft of up to 15.5 m. It is assumed that the new quays will also be able to accommodate passenger ships. The estimated cost of the Outer Port construction is over 780 million euro. According to the Port of Gdynia authorities, the project will have a positive effect on the development of the labour market in Gdynia, directly creating about 700 jobs in the Outer Port, with over 4,200 jobs in the port-related industry.

Article developed with "Namiary na Morze i Handel" magazine

phot. Namiary na Morze i Handel" magazine materials