07.11.2014

Drivers will drive along the new Augustów bypass

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Drivers will drive along the new Augustów bypass

On 7 November 2014, the Augustów bypass was put into operation. The road was designed and built by Budimex SA at the request of the Białystok Branch of the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways.

The total length of the bypass is 34.23 km. The first section with a length of 21.48 km, from the Augustów junction to the Raczki junction, is a single carriageway national road No. 8. The second, 12.75 km long, from the Raczki junction to the Suwałki Południe junction – on the S61 dual carriageway. Together with the connector from the Suwałki Południe junction to the existing national road 8, the new route is 36.6 km long.

The bypass was carried out through the village of Raczki and does not interfere with the areas included in the European Ecological Network Natura 2000.

As part of the investment, the following were created:

  • two sections of the bypass with a total length of 34.23 km,
  • five transport junctions: Augustów, Borki, Janówka, Raczki, Suwałki Południe and a roundabout at the intersection of the connector with the national road No. 8,
  • 40 bridge structures, including: 8 bridges over the Kamienny Bród, Rospuda, Zalewianka, Głęboka and Szczeberka rivers, 18 viaducts and 14 animal crossings,
  • 36 culverts serving as animal crossings,
  • road maintenance circuit in the area of the Raczki junction,
  • 80 km of internal roads and transverse roads crossing the bypass (municipal, district and voivodeship),
  • traffic safety devices, acoustic and anti-glare screens,
  • two weight preselection systems,
  • Fencing of the route with a total length of 70 km.

Construction in numbers:

  • 2.5 millionm3 of excavations and 3.5 millionm3 of embankments were made;
  • During the culminating period of earthworks, from June to September 2013, about 150 transport units worked on the construction site, which, in addition to

internal transport (soil from the excavation) transported about 60 thousand per day. tons of material from mines;

  • on all 40 bridge structures, a total of 55 thousandm3 of structural concrete was built, produced in a mobile concrete batching plant with a capacity of 120m3 per hour launched for the construction purposes;
  • 961 prefabricated T-beams were laid;
  • the bridge over the Rospuda River has a total length of 180 m. Due to the environmental values of the Rospuda Valley, the construction of the crossing required the use of longitudinal sliding technology to limit interference with the riverbed. The bridge has a steel structure with a reinforced concrete slab mating. The weight of the steel structure alone is 840 tons.
  • due to the large amount of bituminous works (480 thousand tonnes), Budimex launched two sand plants with a total capacity of 420 tonnes/hour for the duration of the investment.

Lafarge has supplied 75 thousand cubic meters of concrete mixtures for the construction of the Augustów bypass. This is our next road investment. An integrated offer in the infrastructure segment allows us, together with our partners, to build durable and safe connections between cities. We very much appreciate the cooperation with Budimex, which used theconcrete mixtures primarily for bridge structures and piles for bridges. All mixtures were produced by the Lafarge mobile plant located near the construction site, with a capacity of 120 cubic meters of concrete per hour. Our offer, in addition to the supply of concrete, also included pumping of concrete mixtures and cooperation in the field of laboratory tests – said Janusz Miłuch, General Director of the Concrete Line at Lafarge.

The commissioned Augustów bypass is a key element in international traffic between Poland and the Baltic States – in the future it will also be a part of the planned S61 expressway from Ostrów Mazowiecka, through the planned Łomża bypass, Ełk to Budzisko. Its natural extension towards Lithuania will be the planned Suwałki bypass.

Thanks to this investment, thousands of trucks that have been passing through Augustów every day for years, posing a threat to the health and life of residents, will be directed to the bypass,” said Krzysztof Kozioł, Director of Budimex’s External Communication Office.

The contract for the design and construction of the Augustów bypass, worth PLN 535.9 million net (PLN 659 million gross), was signed in March 2011. The works were completed on time, in October 2014. The Augustów bypass is co-financed by the European Union under the Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment – the value of co-financing is PLN 470.58 million.