The assembly process of the 98 piece Slurry-TBM (101 m long, 2740 t weight and 13.5 m diameter) has begun. This TBM will bore the road tunnel under the Swina river, connecting the islands of Uznam and Wolin. The entire tunnel will be 1780 m long and the TBM will drill 1,484 m of the new road near Świną.
The TBM built by CREG arrived in Poland from China last October after sailing through the Bering Strait and around northern shores of Russia.
The TBM will drive 11 m underground, with Świna being approximately 13 meters deep. The maximum depression will reach 37.5 m below sea level.
The TBM should drive 10-12 m a day installing 785 rings in total. Most of rings will be 2 m long, and 170 are 1.5 m long. The segments composing the rings are manufactured in a prefabrication plant built on the island of Usedom. On the side of Świna, construction of the STP (Slurry Treatment Plant) treatment plant is also underway, this will be where the dirty drilling fluid will be separated from the excavated material.
Intensive work is already underway at the tunnel construction site: the 3.2km project includes two huge launching/receiving shafts and two ramps built with open trench and using the cut & cover tunnel method on the Uznam and Wolin Islands.
The 120-m long and 20-m wide launching shaft on the island of Usedom is already developing quickly. As a result, a starting ring and a bottom slab for the TBM were installed, as well as reinforcement and concreting of the track for the TBM gates and diaphragm walls to a depth of 50 m. The construction of power connections for the TBM and the assembly of transformers are also ongoing. The TBM will be launched in February/March 2021.
Work is also underway on the side of Wolin Island, where the diaphragm walls for the TBM receiving shaft, the opencast tunnel and the entry and exit ramps are currently being constructed. The construction of the 110 kV high voltage cable line has already been completed.
The project investor is the Swinoujscie Municipality that - thanks to this investment - will be permanently connected with the rest of Poland. Currently, communication is provided by ferry crossings, which have a very limited capacity and are dependent on weather conditions. GDDKiA acts as the Substitute Investor. The project is supervised by SWECO / Lafrenz.
The consortium PORR / Gülermak secured the contract for the design and construction of the tunnel in September 2018. Construction works commenced in November 2019. The works will be completed in September 2022. Click pl/27 for the tunnelbuilder archive. For further information visit https://www.gddkia.gov.pl and http://www.swinoujscie.pl. 50/20.
