Warsaw. After the tragic accident on Woronicza Street, they will build a traffic signal

The Municipal Roads Authority is looking for a contractor to build traffic lights at the intersection of Woronicza and Spartańska streets. They announced a tender. They are waiting for offers until December 2. Then they will look at them and choose the best one. The selected company will have 150 days from signing the contract to complete the task.

According to road engineers, traffic lights at the intersection will improve the safety of all participants. But above all, pedestrians. However, the lights will not be the only change, but only the finalization of the change in the character of this place – complicated, because apart from the Spartanska inlet, there is also an entrance to the bus depot.

The existing crossing at 29 Woronicza Street will be moved closer to the intersection and equipped with a refuge. After the changes, there will also be only one straight lane at the intersection. On the road towards Wołoska Street, the left lane will be used only for left turns. Similarly, on the road towards Rationalization Street – the left lane will be used to exit to the depot. Only after the intersection will the road widen again to two lanes.

As part of the reconstruction, the entrance to Spartańska Street will also be narrowed. The sidewalks and the “Zajezdnia Woronicza 02” stop will also be rebuilt. There will also be two bicycle routes. One through Spartańska Street connecting with the bicycle path stretching along the street and the second crossing through Woronicza Street on the western side of the intersection.

A bicycle path project along Woronicza Street is also being prepared. It will be built on the northern side of the street, on the section from Wołoska Street to Etiudy Rewolucyjna Street. The new road is to be constructed at the cost of an extremely wide road, thus also having a positive impact on safety.

For now, at the intersection of Woronicza and Spartańska streets speed bumps are installed. As road engineers admit, although this is an effective solution, it is ad hoc and temporary. “However, we could not announce the tender for the construction of the signaling system earlier. It was only at the turn of October and November that we received the design documentation for the construction of the signaling system,” they explain their actions.

According to ZDM, designing changes such as building traffic lights takes time. “Especially since there are more changes at the intersection of Woronicza and Spartańska streets. However, almost immediately after receiving the documents, we announced a tender for the implementation of these changes. Unfortunately, not everything can be done at once,” officials write.

Both crossings through Woronicza Street at the intersection with Spartańska received a “0” rating in the audit of unsignalized pedestrian crossings – the lowest possible. “However, it should be remembered that many other crossings were rated so low. However, every year many of these crossings become safer,” road engineers point out. They also remind that this year, among other things, they built traffic lights at the crossings of Maczka Street at the level of Niedzielskiego “Żywiciela” Street and at 8 Rembielińska Street. Lights were also installed at the intersection of Branickiego and Sarmacka Streets. They also started construction of roundabouts at the intersections of Augustówka and Zawodzie streets and Krasińskiego and Przasnyska streets. They are also preparing to build a roundabout at the intersection of Powązkowska and Obrońców Tobruku streets.

“Improving road traffic safety is one of our priorities. That is why we have conducted an audit of unsignalized pedestrian crossings and, based on it, we are gradually introducing changes on the capital's streets. It is certain that every crossing requiring changes will undergo such an audit,” ZDM assures.

Let us remind you: in mid-August this year on Woronicza Street, the driver of a passenger car first hit a woman crossing the road and then entered the stop. The pedestrian who was hit did not survive, and a 65-year-old woman also died on the way to the hospital. Eight people at the bus stop were injured, including a child.

The incident occurred on a straight section of road. The woman who was hit was crossing the pedestrian crossing correctly. According to witnesses of the accidentthe SUV driver could be going 70, 80 kilometers per hour, or maybe “even a hundred”.

After the accident, the 45-year-old driver was charged with unintentionally causing a road accident, which is punishable by six months to eight years in prison. The man was imprisoned for three months. Last week we reported that the court decided to extend it. The arrested 45-year-old had previously been convicted of causing a road accident, as a result of which he lost his driving license. – In February this year, he regained the right to drive motor vehicles – said Piotr Skiba, spokesman for the District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw, in August. It is also known that at the time of the accident in Woronicza, the driver “was neither under the influence of drugs nor alcohol.”

As we reported on tvnwarszawa.pl, since at least 2017, Warsaw officials have known that the crossing to Woronicza is extremely dangerous. The authors of the audit commissioned by the city hall precisely predicted the worst-case scenario.