The Sobieszewo bridge
Bottom line: the road onto Wyspa Sobieszewska crosses the Martwa Wisła on a drawbridge. It sits down by default — cars cross, and only boats under 5 m tall pass beneath. It is raised for taller vessels only on prior request, at set times, from dawn to dusk. A boat with its mast up is well over 5 m, so if your sailing takes you past the bridge, you need it lifted — plan ahead.
Is it open for boats right now?
There is no public live-status page for the bridge — only the operator's own cameras. Treat it as closed to boats by default: the spans are down, the road is open, and the bridge is raised only when someone asks, within the windows below. So the honest answer to "is it open now?" is: only if a lift has been booked for now. To arrange one, call the bridge operator ahead of time.
Bridge operator: 507 433 264 · VHF: channel 09 (156.450 MHz), ship–shore–ship.
Opening times (on request)
| When | Opening times |
|---|---|
| Summer · weekdays | 8:30 · 10:30 · 13:00 · 14:30 · 17:00 · 19:00 |
| Summer · weekends & holidays | 8:30 · 10:30 · 13:00 · 14:30 · 17:00 · 19:00 · 21:00 |
| Off-season | 8:30 · 10:30 · 13:00 · 17:00 · 19:00 |
Summer season runs 30 April – 30 September. Times exclude the raise-and-lower operation (about 2½ minutes) and can shift by ~5 minutes around city buses. The bridge is raised only from dawn to dusk. In winter, give 24 hours' notice so the deck can be cleared of snow and ice. Commercial vessels are lifted on request at any time.
Live schedule — Gdańsk Roads Authority (GZD) →
These are planned times and can change; the GZD page is the source of truth — check it, and confirm your lift by phone.
What the bridge is
The crossing is the Bridge of the 100th Anniversary of Polish Independence (Most 100-lecia Odzyskania Niepodległości Polski), opened in November 2018 on voivodeship road 501. It is the largest bascule (lifting) bridge in Poland, and replaced the old Sobieszewo pontoon bridge. It is free and open to road traffic around the clock.
- Road: DW501 (voivodeship road 501)
- Crosses: the Martwa Wisła, at Sobieszewo
- Opened: 10 November 2018
- Length: 173 m (181.5 m with the lifting spans)
- Raise / lower: about 150 seconds
- Clearance when closed: 5 m
Why it matters for the Jamboree
The Puck sails on the Martwa Wisła, the same water the bridge crosses. With its mast up a Puck stands taller than the bridge's 5 m closed clearance, so it cannot pass under the closed bridge. Check which side of the bridge your marina and your sailing water are on: if a passage takes you past it, you'll need a booked lift — or to lower the mast. When in doubt, ask your on-water team.