Krucza Street is preparing for a complete metamorphosis. As part of the New Warsaw Centre, it will feature a wide pedestrian walkway amidst greenery, while traffic will be calmed down and diverted onto single-lane carriageways on its sides. The planned reconstruction of Krucza Street between Jerozolimskie Avenue and Piękna Street was already mentioned by ZDM in 2021.
The company selected in the tender conducted a comprehensive traffic analysis. As part of this, measurements were taken at all intersections on the aforementioned section – three times in a given location during two traffic peaks, i.e. between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. It turned out that giving the road an inner-city character would not affect traffic flow. Thus, there is nothing to prevent Krucza Street from becoming a pedestrian zone in the middle with carriageways located on its sides. What exactly the refreshed street will look like will be shown in the detailed design. It has been handled by Meritum Projekt since 25 November 2022. the 16-month design phase will end in April 2024 and the actual redevelopment can then proceed.
Krucza at present. Photo: ZDM in Warsaw
“Krucza Street in its present form was created in the 1950s. It was then given the role of the main axis of the socialist realist central district, which is why it is as much as 30-40 m wide, even though it is not of great traffic importance. A carriageway with four, and in places even five, lanes occupies much of this space, and drivers use it to park diagonally in bays and on pavements. This width of space for cars is now becoming redundant in view of the completed reconstruction of Five Corners Square, which will completely change the traffic in its immediate vicinity and reduce it somewhat further away,” – zDM writes on its website.
Today’s and planned cross-section. Source: ZDM in Warsaw
“Therefore, Krucza Street will undergo a metamorphosis and gain a downtown character. The centre of the carriageway will be occupied by a pedestrian passage a dozen metres wide, shaded by high rows of trees. Car traffic will be calmed down, with single-lane carriageways on both sides of the passage. Intersections with cross streets will not be passable; instead, there will be U-turns on the section from ul Piękna to Aleje Jerozolimskie. Thus, Krucza Street will become a friendly space for everyone and a place conducive to the development of services and catering. Missing pedestrian crossings, cycling infrastructure and greenery will be created,” he adds.
There is a chance that sections of Krucza Street will expose the historic cobblestones now underneath the tarmac. In the autumn of 2023. The City Roads Authority, under the guidance of a conservationist, carried out some excavations to examine the condition of the preserved cobblestones. So far, it has not yet been decided whether and where it will be used.
Changing the face of Krucza Street is one of the elements of the New Centre of Warsaw. It is a plan implemented by Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski to transform the central part of the city to become a comfortable, accessible and green urban space.
Source: ZDM in Warsaw
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