PROJECT TITLE: Modernisation of access into the building of Gate 1 Control Post
I. Site description
Located on the Western coast of the Black Sea, at 179 nM of the Bosporus Strait and 85 nM of Sulina Branch, where the Danube flows into the sea, Constanţa Port covers a total area of 3,926 ha, out of which 1,313 ha of land and 2,613 ha of water. Constanţa Port has an annual operation capacity of approximately 120 million tons, being served by 156 berths, out of which 140 operational. The total length of the piers is 29.83 km and the depths vary between 7 and 19 m.
The vehicle and pedestrian access into Constanţa Port is made through 10 access gates, located both in the northern and in the southern part of the port, serving the population coming from areas and neighbourhoods of Constanţa and people coming from other localities or regions through direct connection, for example, with the Sun’s Motorway.
The level of using the 10 access variants into the Constanţa Port is determined by the specificity of the gates, by their operation status, as well as by the capacity of the allowed vehicles. In addition, the criteria related to proximity and accessibility have lead to significant differences of the traffic recorded at the 10 access gates.
Gate 1 represents the main entry and exit way into/from the Constanţa Port for pedestrians, motor vehicles and other passenger transport means (minibuses, buses, mopeds, bicycles), being transited by the staff of the authorities and port operators, as well as by tourists. Occasionally and only with the approval of the customs, the access of the motor vehicles for beach maintenance or of those transporting boats and yachts is allowed.
The traffic peaks are registered mainly during the summer season, considering the proximity of the Passengers Terminal, with a direct influence of the number of ship passengers transiting the Constanţa Port or of the specific events in the area.
II. Necessity and opportunity of the proposed investment objective
“Modernisation of Gate 1 Control Post building” is one of the main activities within the European project Civitas Portis and includes the modernisation of the Gate 1 Control Post building, development of Gate 1 – Maritime Station route, as well as easing the pedestrian and road traffic flow in the port access area. Gate 1 is the main access way into Constanţa Port, representative at the level of Constanţa city. The reasons which lead to the necessity to implement a project of such volume had a major importance both for the port, as well as for the city, among which we highlight the following:
- The spaces in the existing building were insufficient and did not ensure the performance of all administrative activities of access control at the level of the current requirements and needs;
- The road traffic was carried out on a single entry lane and a single exit lane, causing the motor vehicles to stand or to form convoys on Termele Romane Street in the morning, when people are coming to work, as well as inside the port, in the afternoon, when the working hours are over;
- The organisation of the pedestrian traffic, as well as the system of regulations for the traffic were displaying deficiencies, a low flow and safety of the traffic.
III. Correlation with other investment objectives
Asphalting the road between Gate 1 – Gate 3 – Station
In order to begin the modernisation, extension and rehabilitation works for the area around Gate 1 and with the purpose of allowing the easement of the traffic flow and for taking a significant volume of traffic dislocated from Gate 1, the road segment Gate 1 – Gate 3 – Station was asphalted. The asphalting and rehabilitation works were carried out quickly, which was another evidence for the good collaboration between the two partner institutions within the Civitas Portis project. The rehabilitation of this segment has considerably improved access to Constanţa Port, facilitating the quick access to the historical area of Constanţa city and, respectively, to the main access gate of Constanţa Port (Gate 1) by providing an alternative route for Traian Street and Ferdinand Boulevard, arterial roads with significant traffic and blockages during rush hours.
Systematisation of road access – City Hall of Constanţa Municipality
In order to ease the road and pedestrian traffic flow, but also to improve the urban aspect around the Gate 1 access area, the City Hall of Constanţa Municipality, through SC Confort Urban SRL, is responsible for the rehabilitation and modernisation works carried out for the street network in the area of Termele Romane Street, the main access road to Constanţa Port, as well as to the Peninsular area and Touristic Port of Tomis.
Among the works proposed within this project are the built of a roundabout with circular green area at the crossroads between Termele Romane and Traian Streets. The two road access ways shall be rehabilitated, at Gate 1 and the peninsular area, belonging to the variant Valea Portului and Termele Romane Street, the buses shall have special lanes and, in parallel, parking lots adjacent to sidewalks shall be built.
The proposed arrangements aim to achieve the following objectives: connecting the works and regulations of the CN APM Constanţa project for the modernisation of access through Gate 1 Control Post, increase of the motor vehicle and pedestrian entry/exit capacity, reducing the waiting time, easing the road traffic flow, improving the traffic conditions, rehabilitation of the road traffic regulation system by markings and indicators to improve the traffic conditions.
System of electronic information panels with variable messages
The port administration makes constant efforts to improve the traffic conditions and the road infrastructure inside the Constanţa Port, as well as to decongest traffic to and from the port. For this purpose, the procurement procedures were started for a system of electronic information panels with variable messages.
One of the panels shall be placed in the Gate 1 area, on the building or on the façade of the Control Post building and shall display various messages referring to traffic, general, daily information etc. Aesthetically also, placing this information panel shall contribute to the improvement of the street architectural aspect.
Another two electronic panels shall be placed in two of the traffic interest points, namely the Gate 7 area and the junction of objective “Road Bridge at km 0+540 of Danube – Black Sea Canal” with the road connecting Gate 9 and Gate 8, having as main objective to ease the vehicles traffic inside the port and to increase the traffic safety.
IV. Brief description of the investment objective
The project was started on 17 August 2017 and, for a good performance of the modernisation works and as a result of the site organisation, on 4 September 2017, a decision was made to close Gate 1 and to open Gate 1 Bis, as a variant for port entry nearest from Gate 1.
The main objectives aimed by the project:increase of the motor vehicle and pedestrian entry/exit capacity through the access control post, as well as reduction of the waiting times;/reorganisation of the road and pedestrian entry/exit traffic in the access area in order to increase the traffic volume and ease its flow;/improvement of the manoeuvring and steering conditions for the vehicles entering/exiting to/from the control post;/systematisation of road traffic during rush hours, respectively in the morning and in the afternoon, when coming to and leaving from work;/the Control Post building is to be provided with the necessary spaces for the optimum operation of all specific security and control access activities, including payment for port access.
In perspective, finishing the modernisation process shall lay the bases for a future implementation of modern IT solutions for Port access and payment and shall create the premises of coordination with RATC in order to extend the first public transportation route in and from Constanţa Port.
V. Conclusions
As a result of the modernisations made in the Gate 1 area, increases of the road traffic values are foreseen due to traffic flow easement. In addition, we should consider that in the Gate 1 area, inside the port, trucks are transporting grains to the Canopus – TTS terminal, located on the northern pier. This traffic is influenced exclusively by economic conditions. For this purpose, we consider for the future to study the possibility of replacing one railway track with an access road between Gate 1 and Gate 1 Bis, road which shall be intended/dedicated to these trucks.
Modernising the access through Gate 1 shall contribute, to a certain extent, to the creation and development of public transportation inside the port. Regarding this aspect, the establishment of a station in the Cuibul Reginei area is considered, therefore avoiding the overcrowding of the parking lot in the area of the technical berth by prohibiting the port workers to park their personal vehicles. Companies with a large number of employees are carrying out their activities in the area we are referring to, such as Black Sea Services, Coremar, but also the Technical Ships Branch of the port administration. In addition, that area provides the access of the military and civil staff working inside the military unit located in the near vicinity.
VI. Identification of the financing sources:
Budget of the National Company „Maritime Ports Administration Constanta”.