- Construction of Wroclaw stadium was a small project, when compared to how large and technologically complex is the modernization of Wroclaw Waterway System - said professor Janusz Zaleski, head of The Oder Basin Flood Protection Project (Projekt Ochrony Przeciwpowodziowej Dorzecza Odry). - Within two or three years we will spend more than half a billion PLN on investments, which purpose is to protect Wroclaw against flooding.
Today, almost nine hundred people work on the reconstruction of the city centre boulevards, deepening and widening of the Oder and flood channels from Opatowice to Warsaw Bridges, and hydro-technical facilities for Różance and Rędzin.
This range of works on the Oder and its surroundings gave an opportunity to build water facilities for water tourism purposes.
- Unfortunately, the project involves only investments for flood protection measures - says Jacek Drabiński, head of the project unit of the Regional Water Management in Wrocław (Regionalny Zarząd Gospodarki Wodnej we Wrocławiu). - We install bollards and mooring eyes at embankment spots with stairs or convenient exits to the shore.
Wrocław citizens will have a better approach to the Oder between the Grunwald Bridge (Most Grunwaldzki) and the Market Hall (Hala Tagowa). A couple of descents to the river will be built there, in the form of amphitheatric stairs. Pedestrian and bicycle crossings, e.g. under the Bridge of Peace (Most Pokoju), will be another attraction.
Jacek Drabiński: - But if we come to an idea to build additional facilities and locations on the waterfront, where we do not conduct works within the flood project, we are willing to engage in it.
In the city centre, the modernisation of the waterfront and boulevards is in progress, from the Grunwald Bridge (Most Grunwaldzki) to Kępa Mieszczańska.
- Some boulevards look good at the first glance, but if you look under the water line, it turns out that they need to be demolished and rebuilt - said professor Zaleski.
Contractors constantly face additional challenges. Professor Zaleski says that sappers are called every day, and larger unexploded bombs require the evacuation of the area. At the top of the Market Hall (Hala Targowa), we found the remains of the medieval building, which must be examined by archaeologists before works can be continued here.
Weather and mild winter favour builders, but they are still working in a hurry.
- We hope that the places, which are used by the white fleet ships in Wrocław, will be ready before the beginning of the season - says Jacek Drabiński.
However, the vastness of modernization works at Wroclaw Waterways can be seen just outside the city centre. In the area of Różanka and Jagiellonian Brigdes (Mosty Jagiellońskie) giant excavators are working in the riverbed, where water flowed just several months ago. Their waste is transported by huge trucks and temporary routes between the shafts were piled specially for their use. The river bed of the Oder will be extended on a distance of 11 km, sometimes even up to 30 meters.
Complicated engineering works are in progress in the area of Różanka, where the weir is being reconstructed and the chamber lock is being modernised. Additionally, so called fish ladders are built. These are hydrologic units, which facilitates moving upstream for diadromus fish, e.g. salmon or eel, that live both in the sea and in fresh water.
- Reconstruction of weirs on Różanka and Rędzin will increase water flow and reduce the risk of flooding in the future - says Jacek Drabiński.
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