Project Spotlight: Extension of the National Road No. 81

By: ViaCon Polska

Located on National Road no 86 from Tychy to Katowice, this section of road is your typical highway in Poland: two roadways with two traffic lanes each and emergency lanes. What makes this area different is that it is located along one of the

most heavily used roads in the Silesian area, where the traffic intensity exceeds 100,000 vehicles per day. This roadway currently carries all of the traffic over an old, closed railway line (which was previously used to transport coal). This retired rail system has been marked to be converted into a bicycle lane.

After evaluating all of the options for the new bike path, a corrugated steel plate structure was chosen specifically not only to eliminate the old three-span grade separation built in the 1950s but also to allow construction to commence without disturbing the continuity of vehicle traffic over the bridge. In order to not disturb traffic, the backfill procedure was developed with the help of the ViaCon design team in a way so that everything took place in stages related to the eradication of the existing grade separation followed by the addition of the backfill. The outlet of the structure is finished with a vertical MSE retaining wall and the inlet was adjusted to the slope reinforced with precast concrete micro-slabs. Overall assembly of the new overpass was carried out without any traffic disturbances.