1. Main problems
2. Development direction for municipal mass transit
3. The capital's parking problems
4. New bridges

Warsaw's rapid development is accompanied by road and transportation systems pushed beyond their limits. The sharp rise in car ownership (today's index is 374 cars per 1,000 residents) combined with the present state of the roads leads to gridlock during rush hour, especially downtown. The city doesn't have the money for essential road works.

Warsaw is one of the few European capitals that doesn't have a beltway, and transit traffic goes straight through the city. It is also one of Poland's most important transportation hubs. Eight international routes intersect here. One of the most serious problems bearing on the entire future road network in the capital is deciding the path of the A2 freeway in the Warsaw region (Berlin - Warsaw - Minsk - Moscow).

Residents of the Ursynów borough and ecologists protested the proposed freeway route through the southern part of the city (Ursynów) as established by Warsaw's General Urban Development Plan of 1992. The protesters suggested that it be redirected further south to near the town of Góra Kalwaria. According to some specialists and ecologists, however, diverting the freeway through Góra Kalwaria would be unprofitable because over 90 percent of east-west traffic is headed to Warsaw. At least seven roads linking the freeway with the capital would have to be built for this large number of vehicles. And the construction of so many additional roads would cause great degradation of the environment and significantly hike costs.

In 1998 the Motorway Construction and Operation Agency commissioned the French company SETEC Internationale to carry out a study on the freeway's course in the Warsaw region. On July 8, 1999 the Motorway Agency decided that the specialists from SETEC should disregard the options running far south of Warsaw. Two suburban options were chosen for further comparison (from Brwinów, through Michałowice, Piaseczno, Konstancin-Jeziorna, Klarysew, Michalin and Wiązowna) and the Ursynów variant. The final decision on the freeway's path will be preceded by community consultations.

Meanwhile the priority in coming years to decongest the city center and rationalize communication is the construction of beltways and a network of access roads.

Warsaw must get ready for the flood of cars that the freeway will bring to the city. In seven years time the freeway will reach the west side of the city and there it can end, because it doesn't pay to extend it further for the 5-10 percent of vehicles that will continue on. For this reason a system of two beltways and access roads must be built in the space of seven years to convey the cars to their destinations around Warsaw.

An estimated 6.6 million złoty is needed to finance the two beltways. At the present rate of road investment from the municipal budget (387 million złoty annually), they will be done in another 20 years (and only on the condition that all the funds for investment go exclusively to building the beltways).

Construction began on the inner beltway many years ago. One might say that the municipal government is building the metro by itself (the first stretch went into use April 7, 1995), because support from central coffers is relatively small. These are proportions unknown in other European cities. The Paris metro, for example, is financed by the national and regional budgets.

The capital's local government has also taken on the burden of building the Świętokrzyski and Siekierkowski bridges. The Warsaw Board is searching for diverse methods of financing. In May 1999 Warsaw Mayor Paweł Piskorski signed a letter of intent with representative of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development regarding special loans for the capital. Cooperation with the EBRD would involve investments to improve the state of the roads and rationalize municipal public transit, treatment of drinking water and modernization of the sewage treatment infrastructure, as well as consulting in managing municipal finances.

Warsaw is not in a position to solve its road problems without help from the national budget. If the capital received 20 percent of its tax money back each year from the central budget, it would be able to solve its difficulties. Both the Warsaw beltways would be finished in just eight years and the first metro line would be completed in 2006.

Development direction for municipal mass transit

The Transportation Policy for the City of Warsaw, adopted by the Warsaw City Council in 1995, is the fundamental document on which proposed solutions for the city's communication system are based. The policy acknowledges that a sutainable development strategy for the transportation system should be the basis of all activity in this field. It gives priority to mass transit, especially in the center and in highly built-up areas. In other regions priority is given to parking availability and a road network adapted to the need of motorists.

In 1998 two more documents were adopted by the Warsaw authorities which define the direction for the Warsaw transportation system's development. They are Warsaw's Development Strategy to 2010 and Study of Planning Conditions and Directions for the City of Warsaw. The authors of the Study of Planning Conditions and Directions for the City of Warsaw recommend a variant, which in the area of public transit would mean:

1. Completion of the 1st metro line to Wólczyńska Street (22.1 km in total);
2. Adaptation of the rail network of the Warsaw rail hub to serve the city as the Rapid Municipal Rail. The following lines are under consideration: Grodzisk Mazowiecki - Otwock (including the existing WKD suburban line), Okęcie Airport - Central Train Station - Rembertów, Okęcie Airport - Gdańska Train Station - Otwock, Gdańska Train Station - Bemowo - Wólka Węglowa with possible extension to Łomianki, Wileński Train Station - Zielonka (or a rapid tram).
3. Building a network of fast trams (seven new lines of a combined length 44.5 km, including Dąbrówka Szlachecka - Tarchomin - Żerań, Waszyngtona - Wawer, Prymasa Tysiąclecia Ave. - Banacha - Fieldorfa, Czerniakowska - Wilanów, along Kijowska Street).
4. Adaptation of the rail line from Wileński Train Station to Ząbki for a fast tram, i.e. a multimedia track, 9.6 km long (this will eliminate numerous transfers from Wileński Train Station to municipal transit).
5. Integration of rail transport (SKM) with the tram and bus networks.

Conditions have already been established for initiatives rationalizing mass transit to be introduced in the coming years. They are:

• the Cezar state-of-the-art traffic flow control system,
• regulating parking in the center city,
• delineating dedicated lanes for buses,
• modernization and purchase of new trams cars and buses for municipal transit,
• introducing a single ticket valid for urban and suburban trains, the metro, trams and buses,
• construction of at least five parking lots for the Park and Ride system next to train stops,
• creation of bicycle paths.

The costs of investments in mass transit through 2010 are estimated at 5.34 billion złoty, and in the road network - 9.13 billion złoty.

The capital's parking problems

One of the conditions for the sustainable development of the transportation system is regulating parking, particularly downtown. One of the most important elements in this area is of paid street parking in the center, currently introduced by city authorities. It covers around 13,000 parking spots in total.

The next plan is the creation of strategic Park and Ride lots situated at the major public transit transfer junctions. They will allow the reduction of private car traffic to the center. The issue of building parking lots in the center is currently under analysis. Underground lots would clean up public spaces and squares of (often illegally) parked cars.

Both the city authorities and the district boards lack the means to finance new parking garages, so they are trying to attract other investors to join the project. Nine underground parking garages are planned with a total of 6,500 spaces. All of them will be in the city center:

• on Bankowy Square,
• on Marszałkowska Street (neighboring Saski Gardens),
• on Grzybowski Square,
• on Emilii Plater Street (by the Palace of Culture),
• on Chałubińskiego Street (near Jerozolimskie Avenue),
• on Konstitucji Square,
• on Powstanców Warszawy Square,
• on Trzech Krzyży Square.

New bridges

Warsaw has a mere six bridges for car traffic. Their scarcity is a serious hindrance in communication for the capital. Long-range plans foresee the need for six new bridges in the Warsaw region. The Świętokrzyski is the first of them. Bridge was finished in October 2000. It will be part of the Świętokrzyska Expressway, which will connect the planned Port Praski development with the downtown. A company formed by the Centrum borough and Electrim S.A. is financing the bridge. The bridge and access ramps are the first phase. In the second, the remaining fragments of the expressway between Kijowska and Świętokrzyska streets will be finished. The bridge, suspended by steel cables from a single tower on the Praga side of the river allows the unrestricted passage of ships. The length of the suspended part of the bridge is 430 meters, 30.8 meters wide, with a suspension tower 87.5 meters tall.

The second one, Siekierkowski Bridge, started in 2000. It will be part of the 8-km-long Siekierkowska Expressway. The planned route starts in Mokotów at Idzikowskiego Street and ends at Płowiecka Street on the other side of the Vistula. The bridge has two towers. It is 826.5 meters in total length, and 33.38 meters wide. It is suspended 15 meters above the water, and the towers rise another 63 meters above the deck.

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