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AmberPodcast Odcinek #8 AmberOne it is not only a road

What environmental initiatives is AmberOne Autostrada A1 undertaking? Is it possible to take actions on the Highway that support the circular economy? By listening to an interview with Dorota Martyńska, Sustainability Manager, you will learn how AmberOne Autostrada A1 cares for the environment by implementing numerous initiatives, such as modernizing photovoltaic panels, building acoustic panels and replacing lighting with LEDs. If you want to find out what the AmberOne Close to Us and AmberGreen programs are all about, listen to the 8th episode of AmberPodcast!

Anna Kordecka: Welcome to the next episode of AmberPodcast. Today we will talk about how AmberOne not only connects cities, but also supports sustainable development and cares for the environment. We will also find out what pro-ecological activities are undertaken by the Motorway and how it supports local social initiatives. Our guest will be Dorota Martyńska, Sustainable Development Manager, who will talk about how the A1 Motorway implements modern solutions for nature conservation and how it supports local communities. We invite you to talk about ecology on the road. Hello and welcome.

Dorota Martyńska: Welcome.

AK: Ecology is not the first association that comes to mind when we think of a motorway. Amber One A1 Motorway undertakes environmental initiatives aimed at counteracting climate change. What are these initiatives?

DM: We take a number of actions on a large and smaller scale, and these are activities aimed at climate protection, but in a broader context at the protection of the environment and various elements of the environment, which we have influence on through our activities on the A1 project, the A1 Motorway, and among the examples of key activities that we undertake, these are, for example: Installation of LED lighting,  i.e. replacement of standard lighting with LED lighting. We also install photovoltaic panels on the project, which, as we know, produce energy from the Sun. We try to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from car traffic by planting greenery, maintaining greenery, but also planting flower meadows that absorb carbon dioxide from the motorway. We care about biodiversity on the motorway, it may not be entirely associated with the climate, but we definitely try to protect the environment so that all animals, as well as plant species that are native or local in the context of animals in the A1 motorway space, feel good there and that their number, i.e. the number of species, does not decrease. We want the road not to be a barrier for animals. From other activities we take; We conduct educational activities among children, adults, drivers, many groups of people, including motorway users. Activities that are to make people aware that we care about the environment, that they, drivers, can also take care of this environment by taking certain actions that we, as a project, as Autostrada 1, propose to them.

AK: A motorway is primarily the traffic of vehicles that move on it, which, let’s face it, is associated with noise and exhaust emissions. What measures are being taken on the motorway to reduce vehicle noise? Noise is certainly a very important factor, unfortunately a negative one, which occurs on the motorway.

DM: Unfortunately, we can’t do much about noise, the direct source of noise, i.e. cars that move on the motorway, because they generate a certain level of noise that we have no influence on. We, as the managers of the A1 Motorway, have an impact on what happens to the emission of this noise, i.e. how it spreads and where it spreads, and this is what we care about the most, that is, we separate, to put it very illustratively, we separate the source of noise from the noise recipients, who are residents living in buildings along the A1 Motorway. And how do we do it? First of all, we put up noise barriers, acoustic protection, protective embankments that separate this source of noise from people who live along the motorway. These noise barriers are found in many places on the A1 motorway. They were built some time ago. We try to maintain them as best we can. They are reviewed, monitored, maintained, so we can be sure that they work and absorb the noise that comes from the A1 Motorway. If screen modernization is required, we perform it. If it is necessary to build a new screen in a new place, where we have a noise exceedance and action needs to be taken, we also do it. Noise monitoring, i.e. noise tests and measurements, also take place very often on our motorway. Actually, every season, noise meters can be noticed on the motorway. We also monitor and make sure that noise is under control, i.e. that it does not disturb the lives of residents along the A1 motorway.

AK: The motorway runs through areas where various animals naturally occur, mainly wild animals. Are any measures being taken to ensure the safety of animals that migrate around the motorway?

DM: Yes, absolutely. Animals are a very, very interesting and interesting element here. We want animals to migrate, we want them to move freely along but also across the motorway. Well, as you know, the motorway does not make it easier for them, so we have to take such actions. On the A1 motorway, crossings for animals have been built, which you don’t have to see from the road, you have to look a little under it to see them. We have a lot of animal crossings adapted to migration, i.e. the passage of game for various animal species. These are passages for small animals, passages for medium and large animals. There are really a lot of them. We try to make these crossings work; so that the animals are happy to use them.  We monitor them, review them, repair them if they need repair. If the animals are not very eager to use a given crossing, we wonder why this is happening. It is often a matter of, for example, the lack of appropriate vegetation that would encourage animals to undertake such a journey, so we also look at this, we plant vegetation that attracts animals, that makes them feel good and comfortable to use such a crossing, because there are species of animals that are reluctant to use animal crossings, because they are reluctant to wander through the so-called tunnels. Animal crossings are often shaped like tunnels, so we try to obtain information about which species of animals prefer which types of crossings, and what to do to facilitate their journey. Another very important issue is that a lot of animals, especially young, inexperienced animals, try to break through the motorway fence in order to get to the other side of the motorway by the shortest possible route. This is a very tragic event, because it can lead to a collision with vehicles. One of these main actions is that we raise motorway fences above this legally required height. Our motorway fence is already 2 metres 40 centimetres high and is now basically insurmountable even by deer or elk. It is very rare for any game to attempt to jump over such a height. This high height of the motorway fence effectively limits the intrusion of animals onto the road, which of course protects the animals, but here let’s not forget that it also protects people who travel on this motorway, so here we act for the safety of animals, but above all, for the safety of people who travel on the motorway. Also an action on a smaller scale, one could say, which we take as part of the protection of animals, is, for example, planting flower meadows. Animals that we often forget about, i.e. insects or small mammals, also have shelter there. Such flower meadows, which are wild areas where what we would call wild plants grow, many animals and many insects live there, this action also improves and affects the safety of this local microfauna that is around the motorway.

AK: The flower meadows you mentioned, apart from the fact that they look visually very beautiful, also have another function, the function of absorbing carbon dioxide. As we mentioned earlier, the motorway is associated with quite a lot of vehicle traffic, which generates quite a lot of exhaust emissions. In addition to planting flower meadows, what actions does the motorway take to reduce these emissions? If you could also complete the answer about flower meadows and their function related to reducing emissions?

DM: Flower meadows on the A1 motorway are a kind of “test” idea. We are looking very closely at how these meadows function, how they work. Certainly, the fact that a flower meadow absorbs a large amount of carbon dioxide is indisputable. We have not yet conducted such detailed research on how much carbon dioxide is absorbed in our meadows. These are approximate and statistical data, but I will not give them in detail here. The meadow itself, absorbs carbon dioxide from the plant that is above the surface of the ground, but above all it absorbs carbon dioxide into the root part, it stores it there, so it has a very large ecological function and we would like there to be more places where the meadow is located on the A1 motorway. This is our goal, to expand this project, so that there are more of these areas, so that there is more life there, also related to what animals and insects are found in these meadows. And we will continue to develop this project. We also want to carry out a thorough soil analysis in the coming years to determine the issues related to the absorption of carbon dioxide by the root mass, but also to see how the biodiversity of soil life has increased by establishing a flower meadow. a very developmental topic. The beauty of the outdoor meadow is only a small part of it, but it is the beauty associated with this ecological function, i.e. carbon dioxide binding, as well as the production of oxygen, because the meadow also produces oxygen, this is the basic function and this is what we want to develop as much as possible. Other activities that we take to reduce carbon dioxide emissions are numerous educational and monitoring activities. First of all, we study how much carbon dioxide is generated from the project. A good three years ago, we calculated the carbon footprint, i.e. tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions produced on the A1 motorway, so we know which activities and what activities and processes that are undertaken on the motorway produce carbon dioxide, which is an undesirable element in the motorway climate, let’s call it that. And the conclusion is very simple from these calculations. We know that the majority, over 98%, of carbon dioxide emissions come from vehicles driving on the motorway, i.e. cars that cross the motorway generate this carbon dioxide. What we can do as motorway managers is to educate our drivers to look at this topic. We know today that each time you take your foot off the accelerator, i.e. reduce the speed of the vehicle by 10 km per hour, it reduces carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 8% from driving a given vehicle. We also provide this information to our drivers. We are currently running the initiative “Count your foot off the gas, because it’s worth it”. Drivers can familiarize themselves with such a calculator, converter after entering our AmberOne application, where they can notice that each speed reduction affects lower carbon dioxide emissions, as well as savings in pockets, because it is not new that reducing speed results in lower fuel consumption and lower expenses for the next refueling. We are making our drivers aware, we are talking about it in the sources available to us and we would like to experience this reduction of emissions here, but these actions, i.e. whether these emissions will be reduced by our drivers, are already beyond our control. We, each of us individually, should be aware that we have an impact on it. So we can only encourage the reduction of emissions and speed. On the motorway, drivers have also been able to use electric vehicle chargers for some time now. We already have a large number of such chargers at six MOPs that are located on the motorway. Of course, these are not the only six that will be. We plan to install electric vehicle charging stations at all motorway service areas on the A1 Motorway. We hope that they will be used. We hope that drivers will use these charging stations. Well, it clearly contributes to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. A clean ride without carbon dioxide emissions is also our priority, but of course we also do not have much influence on what vehicles our drivers drive. However, the stations will be and hopefully will be used.

AK: Thank you very much for this answer. There is nothing else left for me to do but always apply the principle of foot off the gas and encourage you to use it also when traveling. You mentioned the educational program for adults, foot off the gas, our campaign aimed at reducing speed to reduce exhaust emissions. Are there any other educational activities that you carry out as a motorway?

DM: We are trying to pass on to young users, young future users of the A1 Motorway, i.e. children. We have been conducting educational activities among children and schools located near the A1 motorway for many years. These are activities consisting of such ecological workshops, nature workshops, in which we educate and provide information on what animal crossings are, what biodiversity is, what animals are found along the A1 motorway and what we, as a motorway, but also what an ordinary person can do to help animals live safely, migrate safely and enjoy nature.

AK: Educational activities for children in schools are not everything. For local communities, the AmberOne A1 Motorway runs at least two programmes. Could you briefly describe what these programs are, what they are about and why we implement them?

DM: We have been implementing two programs aimed at local communities for some time now. These are the AmberGreen and AmberOne Close to Us programs. The former is more about involving local communities in the implementation of activities related to climate protection, environmental activities aimed at planting vegetation in the areas where this program is implemented. The program is open to municipalities, towns and villages that are located in the vicinity of the A1 Motorway. Within a specific budget, they can propose activities related to planting vegetation in selected areas within their towns. And here we prefer activities that will involve planting deciduous tree vegetation because we know that deciduous trees absorb a lot of carbon dioxide, but we also prefer and are happy to look at projects that involve the establishment of flower meadows, because we already know today that flower meadows also have a lot of benefits for the climate. A meadow and its ability to maintain humidity has a very good effect on such a microclimate located within the implementation of a given project, i.e. a given meadow. This is also another factor that we take into account when choosing the project that will be implemented. So these meadows are really a great project that we want to reward and support in its implementation. Another program we run is, as I mentioned, AmberOne Close to Us. It is a project that is to support the development of local communities. As part of this project, the people involved and proposing activities choose for themselves what they want to spend the money that we allocate to their needs. Here we support all initiatives that are to improve the quality of life of a given community. For example, it can be the construction of a playground, it can be the cleaning of an area that is to be used, for example, for local community meetings. It can be the construction of a shelter for meetings of the local community or pro-ecological activities: planting trees or establishing a beautiful square or, for example, a project that will be implemented this year, i.e. setting up platforms for the white stork for future nests. Such activities can not only improve the quality of life of a given community, they can integrate it, but they can also benefit nature. They can be conducive to the environment and climate, so they combine many functions. So far, we have already implemented 35 initiatives, and this year it is the seventh edition of this program, so we are very happy that it is ongoing and that so many municipalities are interested in participating in this project.

AK: From what you say, a number of activities are being carried out on AmberOne Motorway 1 to reduce the negative impact of the motorway, and above all the traffic on it, on the environment . Are there any other actions that you are trying to implement to reduce the negative impact caused by the motorway, its traffic, or even the repairs currently underway?

DM: It is true that we are now carrying out quite intensive renovation activities on the motorway. As part of these renovations, materials are obtained that we can reuse. Such an example is reclaimed asphalt, which we currently obtain after removing layers of asphalt. It is used on roads of a lower standard. Mainly on roads located along the motorway. We do not throw away material that can be reused. We always try to reuse material that can be used whenever possible. And this does not only apply to destruct. If there are any elements that can be used in the renovation process in a new dimension or by someone else, it is always monitored, used. We want to implement a circular economy policy, i.e. the reuse of materials, because this is what the principle of sustainable development is all about. As for other elements of the renovation, here we definitely try to meet all the requirements related to waste management. We look at where the waste goes, how it is stored, how it is managed.  We conduct constant supervision over our contractors who are involved in the renovation of the motorway, so these issues of supervision over waste and over the works carried out in terms of such environmental elements that are not necessarily associated with the renovation and are associated with renovation, such monitoring is carried out. We make sure that no environmental regulations are violated here.

AK: These are all the questions I have prepared, related to ecology and sustainable development of the motorway. Thank you very much for today’s conversation with lots of valuable comments, tips on sustainable motorway and sustainable driving. My and your guest, an expert on sustainable motorway issues, was Dorota Martyńska, sustainability manager at the AmberOne A1 Motorway. I hope that thanks to this conversation you have become convinced that whether the motorway will be ecological depends to a large extent on us and our driving style. Foot off the gas and see you in the next episode of the Amber Podcast!

Km 0 to km 2+420 Rusocin junction

Partial closure of the gates. Traffic on the roadway in the direction of Gdańsk runs in one lane.

On November 4th from 20.00 Rusocin junction will be closed in the direction of Gdańsk.

Km 50+600 to 57+300 between Pelplin -Kopytkowo junctions:

Traffic takes place on two lanes in the direction of Gdańsk and one lane in the direction of Łódź.

 

For more information See where renovation works are currently being carried out