Mid-June opening of the tunnel under the Swina River

There are assurances from the contractor that the tunnel under the Swina River will be opened in mid-June. This is expected to happen even before the season,” said the deputy mayor of Świnoujście Barbara Michalska. The crossing under the Swina Strait is to solve the traffic problems of Świnoujście residents and to connect Wolin and Uznam islands.

– I think that at the moment it will be the most modern tunnel that has been built. I can assure you that it will be safe,” the deputy mayor of Świnoujście, Barbara Michalska, told a scientific and technical symposium on Monday. – There are assurances that the tunnel under the Swina River will be opened in mid-June. This is still to happen before the season,” she stressed.

Last week, the first buses made a test run through the underwater tunnel from Uznam Island to Wolin Island and back.

– A public transport bus drove through the tunnel very efficiently in order to test the travel time. We will already be able to set bus routes and start public transport through the tunnel as soon as it opens,” Michalska said.

As communicated by the Świnoujście magistrate, from the last stop on the Uznam side of the island to the first stop on the island of Wolin (a route 4 km long, of which 1,780 m is a tunnel) a public transport bus took 10 minutes; through the tunnel itself, travelling at 30 km/h, took just under 5.5 minutes.

Finishing work is currently underway in the technical rooms. Expansion joints are being made on the ramp and in the tunnel, and installation work and testing of all equipment are being carried out in the Service Centre Office building. On the site, landscaping is ongoing on the access roads and around the buildings, such as the transformer stations, where paving work is carried out.

In the tunnel, emergency exits and staircases are being painted. The entire structure is being waterproofed. The installation of the necessary installations is continuing and will be coordinated at the Service Centre Office.

The road between the islands of Wolin and Uznam will be approximately 3.2 km long. The section excavated with the TBM is 1484 m long.

The crossing under the Swina Strait is intended to connect both Wolin and Uznam islands, where the administrative and service centre and the seaside district are located, and thus end the traffic problems of Świnoujście residents and tourists. To get to Uznam Island you currently have to take a ferry crossing, which often involves long waits.

– We will be fully integrated in terms of transport, hopefully without losing that island spirit,” said West Pomeranian Marshal Olgierd Geblewicz on Monday.

The investor is Świnoujście, and the substitute investor is the Szczecin branch of the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA). The contractor is a consortium of PORR/Gülermak companies. The cost of construction is over PLN 900 million, of which almost PLN 775.7 million comes from EU funds. Świnoujście contributes the remainder from its own budget.

Source: PortalMorski.pl