Łazienkowski Bridge

The Łazienkowski Bridge forms a core piece of Warsaw’s inner city bypass and is one of eight road connections crossing the Vistula River in Warsaw. Daily, more than 100,000 vehicles and several bus lines use the bridge. In February 2015, the structure dating back to the 1970s had been badly damaged in a fire which necessitated comprehensive rehabilitation. PORR was commissioned to implement the measures in the course of a bidding process. Construction started in April 2015 under immense time pressure.

Among others, the contract included the disassembly and reassembly of the bridge spans as well as the overhauling of the pre-stressed spans at both sides of the river on a length of 435m. Thereby, also the main water and main heat lines as well as the gas lines running on the Łazienkowski Bridge had to be taken into account.

Main construction involved more than 300 workers working on the bridge construction’s rehabilitation in several shifts. As early as 28 October 2015, a mere 199 days after construction had begun, the bridge could be opened for traffic. All work was finished by September 2016.

A total of 5,650t of construction steel was used for the rehabilitation of this 424-m-long and approx. 28-m-wide steel construction. In order to guarantee the reliable delivery of the required steel elements, four Polish steel mills were simultaneously producing the steel elements.

After disassembly, the new bridge spans were installed using the incremental launch method which had proven to be the most effective method in the light of the tight schedule. Thereby, the new steel elements were launched from both ends of the bridge while the old, burnt-down elements were removed from the bridge’s central area. The work area used for launching work was installed on an old, unused construction of the 60-m-long carrier structure.

Apart from the rehabilitation of the bridge structure, PORR’s work package included a range of additional services:

• Installing insulation using the injection method
• Applying the insulating top layer on the pavements
• Railing and crash barrier installation
• Application of a binder layer consisting of heavy-duty mastic asphalt and a wear layer made of SMA
• Installation of lighting and drainage systems 
• Corrosion protection

Not least because of its central role in Warsaw’s traffic concept, media interest in the rehabilitation of the Łazienkowski Bridge was high. A dedicated website, social media activities and weekly press conferences provided the interested public with information on work progress.