Trucks from Poland driving towards the south will soon stop crossing Svidník

Thirteen years of effort made by the people from Svidník finally bear fruit.

(Svidník, 27 November 2007, Anton Oberhauser) – Today, the R4 Svidník Consortium, the members of which are Inžinierske stavby EUROVIA – Cesty, and STRABAG, starts construction of a bypass around this district city. This is the place where the R4 expressway connecting the Hungarian and Polish borders will lead through the two largest cities of East Slovakia. Under the leadership of the investor, the National Highway Company, the bypass is supposed to be finished in May 2009. Better times are coming for the transport in the north-east of Slovakia. Thirteen years of effort made by the people from Svidník finally bear fruit.

The road will unburden the town especially from the heavy trucks driving from Poland to the south of Europe and back. Currently, approximately 1 200 trucks per day cross the border crossing in Vyšný Komárnik and this number keeps on increasing. The investor and more than 12 000 inhabitants of the town expect that the new bypass will contribute to a decrease in the accident rate and seriousness of traffic accidents.

The Svidník bypass, which will replace the existing part of the I/73 road, will be 4 573 m long. The construction will contain eight bridges, the longest one will have a span of 209,6 m. The project involves also grade-separated interchange at Svidník South and at-grade junction Svidník North. From a technical point of view, the construction project will require the supply of almost 200 000 m3 of soil, the area of the carriageway wearing course will reach almost 75 000 m2. The total costs of construction will amount to more than 790 million Slovak crowns, but a substantial amount of money will come from funds of the European Union.

Participation in the R4 Svidník Consortium is especially important for Inžinerske stavby. “We are glad that our company, which wins contracts mainly in other parts of Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Hungary, will have also a contract in the east of Slovakia. This corner of the country has been for us a matter of the heart for already 56 years, because we have had our headquarters here from the very beginning,” says the director general of the Inžinerske stavby, a.s. company, Ing. Jaroslav Jarábek, MBA.

The part between Košice and Milhosť (the border with Hungary) will be part of the R4 expressway. It should be built between 2010 and 2013. Then the R4 building will continue from Prešov to Svidník and towards the Polish border.

The Inžinierske stavby, a. s. company was established in 1951. Currently it is the second largest building company in Slovakia and ranks among the most important contractors of the National Highway Company. Besides construction of roads and bridges the company focuses also on the construction of sewerage systems and WWTPs, gas lines, waterworks, and other construction projects. In 2004 a French group, Colas, one of the world leaders in the area of road construction, became a majority shareholder in the company.