The works connected with the reconstruction of the southern carriageway of DK18 along the entire section from the state border with Germany to the Golnice interchange (Lower Silesian Voivodeship) have been completed. On Friday, 13 October, the entire 70-kilometre road gained motorway parameters and status and was opened.

Opening the road to traffic in its full configuration, that is, with two lanes in each direction on the section from the border of Lubusz and Lower Silesian Voivodeships to the Golnice interchange, marks the completion of the second stage of the A18 motorway construction. Its aim was to adapt the old and degraded southern carriageway to motorway standards. The first stage involved the construction of the northern carriageway of DK18 to motorway standards, towards the state border at Olszyna, in 2004–2007.

Voivodeship border – Golnice

The over-20-kilometre section is located entirely within Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It begins at the border of Lubusz and Lower Silesian Voivodeships and ends at the Golnice interchange. The contract for constructing this section under the traditional design-and-build system was signed on 27 January 2021 with a consortium of KOBYLARNIA, MIRBUD and BUDPOL. The cost of the works was PLN 260 million.

What has been completed

In addition to the core scope of work, involving the replacement of the degraded road surface and adapting the road’s load-bearing capacity to carry loads of 11.5 tonnes per axle, new structures were built and many existing ones were reconstructed. At the Luboszów interchange, the southern section was reconstructed, together with the entry and exit lanes, ramps and a roundabout connecting it with the county road. At the Golnice interchange, the reconstruction covered lighting and drainage, as well as a section of voivodeship road no. 297. Nine new bridge structures were built: 

  • five wildlife overpasses for large animals – four with reinforced-concrete arch structures made of prefabricated trough beams and one made of corrugated steel. The latter, with a clear span of over 70 metres, is also the widest of the ecoducts;
  • two viaducts along the motorway and one over the road,
  • a bridge carrying the motorway over the Kwisa River. 

Elements of new telecommunications infrastructure were built, and existing infrastructure that conflicted with the project was reconstructed. Service and internal roads, access roads to tanks and treatment devices, as well as exits and emergency crossings, were also constructed. The road was equipped with the necessary traffic-safety elements, environmental protection facilities and landscaping.

From the construction site kitchen 

Nearly 330,000 tonnes of concrete were used to build the new concrete pavement and the structures on the southern carriageway’s final section. A total of 3,200 tonnes of steel was incorporated into the bridge structures, along with nearly 200,000 road dowels and anchors in the pavement. More than 26,000 linear metres of prefabricated piles and 38 twelve-metre large-diameter piles, each 1.5 metres in diameter, were driven for the bridge structures. Nearly 7,000 laboratory tests were carried out to monitor the quality of the completed works and incorporated materials, as well as the parameters achieved. During the period of peak mobilisation, around 200 people and 140 pieces of equipment worked on the construction site simultaneously.

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