Ecology

The motorway cuts across regions unique for their natural and landscape values. Even though motorways in general rank among the transport systems most friendly to the environment, the execution of a road project of such scale does not leave its neighbourhood unaffected. For this reason, it is vital to keep alert, care for, and conserve the precious elements of the natural environment, as well as protect the cultural, historical, and environmental values of the areas crossed by the motorway.

Currently the project operation stage, we pay much attention to monitoring the impact the A1 motorway exerts on its surrounding environment. All mitigating or compensating solutions we introduce are instantly assessed and monitored. We:

•  invariably keep an eye on the vegetation, tending to it seasonally and replacing individual plants, if needed.
•  monitor the tightness of the motorway fencing, and any gaps are sealed off without delay with the safety of the travellers and animals in mind.
• check the environmental devices for their proper functioning, e.g. sand-pits, separators, or retention tanks.
• also test the quality of the waters we discharge to the environment to make sure we do not contaminate the land with any harmful substances.
• keep a close look at the animal passes we have built for the mammals and amphibians to see whether and to what extent the wildlife makes use of the passages, to assess how functional the structures are, and what we can do to make them do their job even better.
• take any reports on animals spotted within the Motorway right of way very seriously to make sure the noticed creature will not pose a threat to the A1 Motorway users on the road.

Moreover, we monitor the motorway impact on the plant communities and ecotone zones on the verge of the A1 right of way. So far, we can take pride in the fact that the motorway carries no negative impact on the plants, which – as we take it – is our major success.

We also focus our attention on actions aimed at monitoring the effectiveness of the noise protection. We regularly in accordance with regulations make noise measurements to check whether the erected acoustic screens perform their task, and information from the measurements are used for reporting to authorities as well as input for calibrating the Acoustic Map developed in accordance with Polish law and EU regulations that will be the basis for future monitoring or actions as defined by the relevant authorities in cooperation with GTC.

To check the current strategic noise map performed for A1 Motorway in 2022 please click the below button.

Other lines of action that will complement the above efforts over the operation period focus on reducing energy consumption and developing methods for recycling materials to reduce the waste volumes. The major issues we face include monitoring the level of fumes generated by the road users. The preventive measures proposed to protect the environment at both the construction and operation stages of the A1 motorway project guarantee the attainment of maximum effectiveness. They embody the modern approach to the environmental issues, and the currently binding and available methods of counteracting negative impact the road might have on particular elements of the natural environment.