Wody Polskie is planning to extend long sections of the Vistula and Dlubnia flood control embankments. The work will take two years, and the results will please not only residents, but also cyclists.
As part of a broader flood protection project in the Oder and Vistula river basins, Wody Polskie is carrying out an investment that will increase flood safety for residents of the cities of Krakow and Skawina. The purpose of the work is to raise and expand the existing embankments. The implementation of flood protection measures in Małopolska is part of a strategic project on a national scale, flood protection in the Odra and Vistula river basins, which aims to secure the most flood-prone areas in the Odra basin and implement the first group of measures to ensure the same level of protection for the Upper Vistula basin.
Bicycle route to Tyniec
There has been a lot of buzz about the Polish Water Authority's plans due to the felling of trees in the area of the Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec. Work is underway in the area to expand the embankment between the mouth of the Skawinka River and the Kościuszko water stop. While this will not provide a continuous connection from the highway through Tyniec to Skawina, there will be amenities. Gone will be the muddy driveway right next to the Kościuszko water stage, familiar to anyone who happens to bike between the center of Krakow and Tyniec. Comfortable pavement is another plus, in this case, asphalt will appear on most of the rebuilt sections of the embankment. Polish Waterways has planned nearly 3.5 kilometers of asphalt pavement.
Expansion of flood embankments in Krakow
The work is scheduled to end in May 2022. Another plan is to expand a section on the opposite side of Krakow. The 10.6-kilometer-long section on the right bank of the Vistula will start from the Nowohucki Bridge, the Wanda Bridge, the S7 road up to the mouth of the Serafa. Wody Polskie is planning two service roads there: one on the crown of the embankment, 3.5 meters wide, and one one meter narrower on the shelf on the outside of the embankment. Work will also be carried out on the opposite side from the Wanda bridge up to beyond the Przewóz water stage, to the mouth of the Suchy Jar canal, along with a section of the Dłubnia River to Ptaszyckiego Street. This is another 9.5 kilometers of embankments.
Resumption of investment
The investment work carried out by Wody Polskie in the city of Krakow and Skawina is driven by the need to increase flood safety, protect households, and consequently reduce flood losses in the area. This investment is the completion of the reconstruction of the flood control embankments of the Vistula River in Krakow, which was carried out between 1999 and 2004 and was intended to protect Krakow from flooding by raising the embankments of the Vistula and its tributaries in the city. One of the reasons was also the general technical condition of the structures. Numerous seeps through the embankment's body and base were observed here during high water levels, and after the 2010 flood there was also delamination of the embankment's body along a length of several tens of meters.
The project is co-financed by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), the Council of Europe Development Bank, the EU Cohesion Fund and the state budget.
