The new R48 Rychaltice – Frýdek-Místek section to bring higher traffic safety
A great benefit for the local inhabitants of the area south of Ostrava will be brought by the construction of the R48 Rychaltice – Frýdek-Místek section, commenced on 2 December 2009. Yet the new road will afford the greatest benefits in terms of traffic safety, since the section is a place with a high accident rate.
The I/48 Bělotín – Český Těšín road is significant from several points of view. From the international view, it forms an important part of the North-South corridor within the European road system.
In the city of Frýdek-Místek, the I/48 road crosses the I/56 road and the II/484 road, thus serving as an alternative connecting road through the II/484 road from south to north in the direction of Ostrava. On a narrower territorial scale, the I/48 road serves as a gravity thoroughfare of the entire Frýdek-Místek district. “We expect that for the mentioned reason this thoroughfare will not lose its transport significance even after the planned D47 motorway in the Bělotín–Polish border section has been placed into operation,” says Alfred Brunclík, Chief Executive Officer of the Road and Motorway Directorate of the Czech Republic (ŘSD).
The new transport-technical solution (directional, height and width) on the I/48 road in the Rychaltice – Frýdek-Místek section is mainly being implemented because of the fact that the capacity of the road’s section profile does not correspond to the forecast growth of traffic intensity.
In the previous section between Bělotín and Rychaltice, this thoroughfare was built as a two-lane road (but at the present time is used as a four-lane road without meeting the high-speed category standard). In the respective newly constructed Rychaltice – Frýdek-Místek section the road will have a fully-fledged divided four-lane arrangement and be designated as a high-speed road.
In the current form, the section passes through the territory of Rychaltice, specifically, through the Frýdek-Místek town districts of Chlebovice, Zelinkovice and Lysůvky, which does not allow for implementing the required section profile without an extraordinarily high outlaying of finance.
A large amount of irremovable potential collision points are also located in the places of the connection of local roads. Last but not least, the road’s section following the current route did not allow for fluent passage to the southern bypass of Frýdek-Místek while complying with the required directional parameters.
The entire length of the new section will be operated as a high-speed road. The mentioned project begins behind the bridge structure across the river Ondřejnice and the II/486 road in Rychaltice. From the beginning of the modification after the bridge in Rychaltice to approximately km 16.400, it follows the route of the current I/48 road, which means that the current thoroughfare in this section will be converted into a four-lane road.
Besides the width re-arrangement of the I/48 road in the area of Rychaltice, the new project also entails a flyover connection of the II/486 road, servicing of the adjacent area, and retaining the traffic serviceability of the local facilities through access roads.
From approximately km 16.4, the I/48 road follows a new route, i.e. beyond the current I/48 road. The new road passes through agricultural land, on which it crosses minor water courses with waterside vegetation, in the vicinity of km 18.3 it passes through a narrow vacant lot in the residential built-up area of Chlebovice, where it passes on the bridge structure above the III/4848 road. After Chlebovice it is built on fields. From approximately km 19.1 to the end of the section at km 20.940, the road’s new route is again built on fields between the residential built-up areas of Frýdek-Místek - Zelinkovice and Frýdek-Místek - Lysůvky.
The route in Lysůvky includes passing through a tunnel 160 metres long at km 20.040–20.200. The tunnel is a sunken structure with a monolithic ceiling cast on earth centring. The road’s vertical alignment in the place of the tunnel – passage through Lysůvky – is sunk approximately 8 metres.
At the end of the structure’s section, level connection to the current I/48 road in the direction of Frýdek-Místek, before the current bilateral petrol station, is being planned. So as to retain the possibility of using a non-toll road, a supporting road has been designed together with a high-speed road. This supporting road will link up north of Rychaltice to the II/486 road.
The project also includes noise protection of the adjacent residential buildings in the vicinity of the road.
The project has been proposed for co-financing by the European Union from the Cohesion Fund, within the Operational Programme Transport. A non-repayable contribution from the European Union has been requested within Priority 2 in the “TEN-T Construction and Modernisation of the Motorway and Road Network” support area.
For an information leaflet, including a map of the construction, click here.
Project information:
Project name: R48, Rychaltice – Frýdek-Místek
Location: Moravia-Silesia Region
Project commencement: 12/2009
Project completion: 12/2011
Price: CZK 2,748,246,427
Length: 7,137 metres
Date: 02.12.2009
