WARSAW, Poland, July 31 (UPI) -- Poland's prime minister said work on a road through an environmentally protected but traffic-congested northeastern region of the country has been postponed.
Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski told Polish Radio that construction work, scheduled to start Wednesday on a 25-mile section across the Rospuda River Valley, has been postponed until a European court rules on the issue.
The European Commission filed a motion Monday with the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg to order Poland to immediately stop the work.
Hundreds of residents of Augustow, close to the Lithuanian border, on Monday night blocked the main road passing through the town, demanding that construction of the bypass proceeds as planned, the radio report said.
EU officials and ecologists argued that road construction through the wetlands could endanger rare plants and animals of the Rospuda Valley, which is the natural habitat of two endangered birds -- the greater spotted eagle and aquatic warbler.
Polish officials said the road would relieve traffic congestion being caused by up to 4,500 heavy trucks and other vehicles that travel through the area daily en route to Lithuania.
