Introduction Inner City ring road (WZ) transformation

Abstract

The ‘Trasa WZ’ (the East-West road) is the first inner ring enabling cars to avoid the city. It is located on the medieval moat, which was filled in during the second half of the 19th century. While the early 20th century plans for the city development have already acknowledged the role of this road as a communication axis, it has taken its present shape between 1977 and 1991. In physical terms, the length of the WZ road is approximately 1,5 km. It has 7 traffic lights (5 concentrated on the first 350 m of its western part and then approx. every 500 m). It has 6 crossings, and 5 entry/exit points to the north and the south. It is a large road, with 2 or 3 lanes on both sides, two lines and a short road tunnel (next to Plac Dominikański) separated from the traffic. For pedestrians, there is an underground passage linking both sides of the Świdnicka street (which is the main historic north-south axis), together with two passages in its eastern part close to the Plac Dominikański.