Warsaw greens tram poles

The capital city envisions giant ivy pergolas along the tram tracks

A pilot green project has begun in Warsaw. It envisions the planting of ivy around tramway electricity support poles on three streets. The action comes on top of the greening of tramway tracks and ultimately, city authorities believe, it will produce giant green pergolas, covered in ivy plants in the designated areas.

The transport network in Warsaw gets a green garment

The pilot planting of ivy along the streets of Prosta, Aleje Jerozolimskie and Puławska in Warsaw has already started. Three types of ivy will be left to grow on 17 tramway poles.

These are the five-leaf virginia creeper and two varieties of the three-leaf virginia creeper. These plants are resistant to harsh conditions such as frost, strong sunlight and do not require a lot of water. Moreover, in autumn, the color of their leaves turns red, they do not need supports and can easily attach to smooth surfaces such as poles.

The plants can grow up to 15 m on average and will require some shortening and pruning. At this pilot stage, the aim is to define which species can work best on tramway poles and open up to the possibility to green other parts of Warsaw using these means.

To this day, such a comprehensive project for greening poles has not been previously implemented in Poland, authorities explained, but it can be discovered elsewhere in Western Europe – for example in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.

The move adds up to a conscientious effort to 'floralize' the tramway network of the Polish capital, which already boasts 25 kilometres of green tracks, as can be seen in the image above. To do this, the traditional track construction is being replaced by a green carpet, called sedum, which does not require watering. The measure is particularly important in the conditions of a changing climate, with more excessive rainfalls and frequent heatwaves.