Highways in Poland
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates
Controlled-access highways in Poland are part of the national roads network and they are divided into motorways and expressways. Both types of highways feature grade-separated interchanges with all other roads, emergency lanes, feeder lanes, wildlife crossings and dedicated roadside rest areas. Motorways differ from expressways in their technical parameters like designated speed, permitted road curvature, lane widths or minimal distances between interchanges. Moreover, expressways might have single-carriageway sections in case of low traffic densities (as of 2025, such sections constitute 3% of the highway network).
The development of modern highways began in the 1970s, but proceeded very slowly under the communist rule and for the first years afterwards: between 1970 and 2000 only 434 km of highways (5% of the planned network) were constructed in total.<ref>Here and in the following figures, construction of 1st or 2nd carriageway is accounted as half-length for consistency of the summed results. Sections constructed by Nazi Germany are accounted for the dates of their reconstruction to modern highways.</ref> Further 1050 km (13% of the network) were opened from 2001 to 2010, followed by 2773 km (34% of the network) constructed between 2011 and 2020.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is planned to open about 2500 km (31%) in the 2020s, while the last about 1400 km (17%) would be completed in the 2030s.<ref name="pbdk_2033"/>
Template:As of, there are 5320 km<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> of motorways and expressways in operation (64% of the intended network), while contracts for construction of a further 1290 km<ref>Including design–build contracts; see the List of motorways and expressways for details on the phases of construction and design.</ref><ref name="gddkia_contracts'_completion_dates"/> (16% of the network) are ongoing.
Except for the single-carriageway expressway sections, both types of highways fulfill the definition of a motorway as specified by OECD, WRA or Vienna Convention. Speed limits in Poland are 140 km/h on motorways and 120 km/h on expressways (100 km/h for single-carriageway expressway sections). Some motorway stretches are tolled.
Technical parameters
- File:Znak D9.svg Motorways are public roads with controlled access which are designated for motor vehicles only, and feature two carriageways with at least two continuous lanes each, divided by a median. They have no single-level intersections with any roads or other forms of land and water transport, and have wildlife crossings constructed above the road. They feature emergency lanes and feeder lanes, and are equipped with dedicated roadside rest areas. Motorways are the only roads in Poland which use blue background on road signs; others use green road signs.<ref name="rozp2022">https://isap.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WDU20220001518 Template:Bare URL inline</ref>
- File:PL road sign D-7.svg Expressways share most of the characteristics of motorways, differing mainly in that:
- Expressways are designated for lower speed than motorways. For example, the road curvature can be more severe and the lanes are usually narrower (3.5Template:Nbspm vs 3.75Template:Nbspm). Emergency lanes are also narrower (2.5Template:Nbspm vs 3Template:Nbspm) and in exceptional situations expressways might not have them at all.
- Expressways can have a single carriageway on sections with low traffic density.
- Motorways can have interchanges only with main roads, and the distance between interchanges is typically not less than 15 km (or 5 km near major cities), while expressways typically have more frequent interchanges. In exceptional situations, expressways might not have dedicated feeder lanes on interchanges.<ref name="rozp2022"/>
List of motorways and expressways
In 2004, the government published the ordinance defining the planned highway network of length about Template:Cvt.<ref name="rozp2004">Template:Cite web</ref> Notable changes introduced in later amendments include re-routing S8 and adding S61 instead (a change related to the Rospuda Valley conflict),<ref name="rozp2009">Template:Cite web</ref> introducing S16, S52 and A/S50,<ref name="rozp2019">Template:Cite web</ref> as well as extending S5,<ref>to Ostróda in 2015 and to Bolków in 2019</ref> S8<ref>to Kłodzko in 2019</ref> and S10,<ref>to Wołomin in 2015</ref> raising the total length to about Template:Cvt.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="rozp2019"/>
The planned network consists of 16 major highways (over 200 km of intended length): A1, S3, S5, S7, S11, S17, S19, S61 running north to south and A2/S2, A4, S6/A6, S8/A8, S10, S12, S16, S74 running west to east, as well as 9 shorter highways:Template:EfnTemplate:Efn <ref name="ongoing_gddkia's_contracts"> Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="map_of_ongoing_constructions"> Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="map_of_ongoing_constructions_english"> Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="gddkia_planned_construction_dates"> Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="pbdk_2033">Template:Cite web</ref>
| File:Znak D9.svgFile:PL road sign D-7.svg 3) Highways under construction | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sign | Route | Location | Total length | Existing | Construction commencedTemplate:Efn | Of which under active construction | Scheduled years of opening<ref name="gddkia_contracts'_completion_dates">Template:Cite web</ref> | Tender | In preparationTemplate:Efn | |||
| S1 | Katowice Airport (A1) - Mysłowice (A4) - Bielsko-Biała (S52) - Template:Nowrap | File:NowaMapaS1.svg | 144 km | Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap |
59% (72.4%) |
+ 39.5 km (new route) |
2025, 2026, 2027 | |||||
| (+ 39.5 km) dual carriageway road |
(100%) | |||||||||||
| A2 | Eastern section: Template:Nowrap - Template:Nowrap - Template:Nowrap |
File:NowaMapaA2.svg | 168.2 km | 72.1 km | 42.9% | 63.8 km | 2026, 2029? | 25.5 km | 6.8 km | |||
| S6 A6 |
Template:Nowrap - SzczecinTemplate:Efn - Goleniów (S3) - Koszalin (S11) - Słupsk - Gdańsk (A1) | File:NowaMapaS6.svg | 412 km | File:PL road sign D-7.svg 230.8 km File:Znak D9.svg 28.1 km |
71.7% | 102.3 km | 2025, 2026 | |||||
| Szczecin western bypass | 0 km | 0% | 1.5 km | Template:Nowrap | 49.3 km | |||||||
| S7 | Gdynia - Gdańsk (A1) - Elbląg (S22) - Olsztynek (S51) - Template:Nowrap | File:NowaMapaS7.svg | approx. 750 km | Template:Nowrap | 83% |
35 km (Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap are open to traffic on the whole length of the reconstruction site) |
2025, 2026, 2027, 2032? |
Template:Nowrap (reconstruction Template:Nowrap | ||||
| (+ 48 km) Template:Nowrap |
(96%) | |||||||||||
| (+ 12 km) Template:Nowrap |
(100%) | + 15 km (new route) |
2025 | |||||||||
| Warsaw Template:Nowrap - Radom (S12) - Kielce (S74) - Kraków (A4) | Template:Nowrap + 0.4 km 1st carriageway |
98% | 5.3 km + 0.4 km 2nd carriageway |
2025, 2026 | ||||||||
| (+ 12.5 km) Template:Nowrap |
(100%) | |||||||||||
| Kraków (A4) - Rabka-Zdrój - Template:NowrapTemplate:Efn | Template:Nowrap | 34.6% | partial reconstruction to grade-separated Template:Nowrap are open to traffic) | 2030?, 2032?, 2038?Template:Efn | Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap | |||||||
| (+ 25 km) Template:Nowrap |
(62%) | |||||||||||
| S8 | Southern section: Wrocław (A8) - Kłodzko - Template:Nowrap |
File:NowaMapaS8.svg | approx. 127.4 km | 5.1 km | 4% | 59.5 km | 32 km | 2027, 2028, 2030?, 2038? |
9.3 km | approx. 53.5 km | ||
| S10 | Main section: Template:Nowrap - Bydgoszcz (S5) - Template:Nowrap |
File:NowaMapaS10.svg | 297 km | Template:Nowrap + 17.5 km 1st carriageway |
19.8% | 153 km + 17.5 km 2nd carriageway |
45.4 km | 2027, 2028, 2030?, 2031? |
37.8 km | |||
| + 39.5 km | ||||||||||||
| S11 | Template:Nowrap - Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap | File:NowaMapaS11.svg | 556.5 km | 154.4 km + 10.5 km 1st carriageway |
28.7% | 122.1 km + 4.2 km 2nd carriageway |
25 km | 2026, 2028, 2029, 2030?, 2032? |
47 km | |||
| Template:Nowrap + 6.3 km 2nd c/w | ||||||||||||
| S12 | Eastern section: Lublin (S17/S19) - Chełm - Template:Nowrap |
File:NowaMapaS12.svg | 103.7 kmTemplate:Efn | 29.2 km | 28.2% | 68.8 km | 14 km | 2026, 2027, 2032? | 5.7 km | |||
| S17 | Eastern section: Lublin (S12/S19) - Zamość - Template:Nowrap |
File:NowaMapaS17.svg | 126 kmTemplate:Efn | 9.6 km + 2 km 1st carriageway |
8.4% | 92 km | 17 km | 2027, 2028, 2030?, 2nd c/w: 2032? |
22.3 km | |||
| + 2 km 2nd c/w | ||||||||||||
| S19 Via Carpatia |
Template:Nowrap - Białystok (S8) - Template:Nowrap - Template:Nowrap | File:NowaMapaS19.svg | 572.5 km | 21.2 km Template:Nowrap |
9.6% | 208.7 km Template:Nowrap 2nd carriageway |
132.6 km Template:Nowrap 2nd carriageway |
2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029?, 2030? |
69.4 km | |||
| Template:Nowrap | 141.7 km Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap |
94.8% (100%) |
16.3 km 2nd carriageway |
2026 | ||||||||
| Rzeszów (A4) – Template:Nowrap | 11.4 km | 11.8% | 85.2 km | 74.5 km | 2026, 2027, Template:Nowrap |
|||||||
| S74 | Łódź (A1) - Sulejów (S12) - Kielce (S7) - Nisko (S19) | File:NowaMapaS74.svg | approx. 261 km | 6.7 km | 2.6% | 108.6 km | 28.7 km | 2025, 2027, 2028, 2032?, 2035? |
92 km | |||
| + approx. 54 km | ||||||||||||
| File:Znak D9.svgFile:PL road sign D-7.svg 4) Planned highways | ||||||||||||
| Sign | Route | Location | Total length | Existing | Construction commenced | Of which under active construction | Tender | Template:Nowrap complete | In preparationTemplate:Efn | Planned Template:Shy <ref name="gddkia_planned_construction_dates"/><ref name="pbdk_2033_progress">Template:Cite web</ref> | ||
| S5 | Eastern section: Template:Nowrap |
File:NowaMapaS5.svg | approx. 104.3 km | 14.3 km | 13.7% | approx. 90 km | 2033 | |||||
| Western section: Bolków (S3) – Świdnica – S8 |
approx. 50 km | 0 km | 0% | approx. 50 km | 2032 | |||||||
| S10 | Eastern section: Template:Nowrap - Template:Nowrap |
File:NowaMapaS10.svg | approx. 120 km | 0 km | 0% | Template:Nowrap | 2033 | |||||
| S12 | Western section: Template:Nowrap - Radom (S7) - Lublin (S17) |
File:NowaMapaS12.svg | 185 km | 16.4 km + 6.0 km 1st carriageway |
10.7% | 29.1 km | 133.5 km + 6.0 km 2nd c/w |
2033 | ||||
| File:S16-PL.svg | Olsztyn (S51) - Ełk (S61) - Template:Nowrap | File:NowaMapaS16.svg | approx. 245 km | 46.2 km Template:Nowrap 1st carriageway |
23% | 19.7 km + 20.1 km 2nd carriageway |
77.5 km | 2037 | ||||
| + approx. 81.5 km | ||||||||||||
| S17 | Warsaw eastern bypass Template:Nowrap | Warsaw | 17.3 km | 3.5 km | 20.2% | 13.8 km | 2036 | |||||
| A50 A50 |
Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap | Warsaw (2nd ring road) |
approx. 265 km | 0 km | 0% | Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap |
2038 | |||||
| File:S52-PL.svg | Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap - Template:Nowrap | File:NowaMapaS52.svg | 98 km | 37 km | 37.8% | 61 km | 2032 | |||||
| File:Znak D9.svgFile:PL road sign D-7.svg In totalTemplate:Efn | ||||||||||||
| Planned length | Existing | Construction commencedTemplate:Efn | Of which under active construction | Tender | Predesign complete | In preparation | No progress | |||||
| Total | approx. Template:Cvt | Template:Nowrap File:PL road sign D-7.svg approx. 6164 km |
5145.2 km Template:Nowrap 1st carriageway |
63.31% | 1219.9 km Template:Nowrap 2nd carriageway |
609.4 km Template:Nowrap 2nd carriageway |
85.6 km | 0 km | approx. 1642 km Template:Nowrap 2nd carriageway |
Template:Nowrap 2nd c/wTemplate:Efn | ||
Cross-sections
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space reservation for the 2nd carriageway can be seen on the right
As of November 2025, the operational sections of highways utilize the following cross-sections:
- 7% (377 km) – motorways and expressways with 2×3 or (occasionally) 2×4 or more lanes,
- 90% (4786 km) – motorways and expressways with 2×2 lanes,
- 3% (157 km) – single-carriageway expressways, of which 55 km with dual-carriageway fragments (2×2) around the interchanges.
All single-carriageway expressways are constructed with allocated space for a possible upgrade to dual-carriageway and all bridges above such highways are prepared to accommodate the second carriageway. Most of those sections are planned to be widened to full profile by 2033, the exceptions being S1 (near the Slovak border) and S22 (near the Kaliningrad Oblast border) where widening is currently not expected.<ref name="pbdk_2033"/>
Substandard highways
Motorways and expressways constructed before 1999 do not have to fulfill technical parameters defined by the ministry ordinance. As of 2025, one notable case of a substandard highway remains:
- A4 on the section Krzyżowa – Wrocław (103 km) was constructed in years 1934 – 1937 (then the territory of Nazi Germany) and renovated in years 2002 – 2006. The road received new high quality surface but the geometry was kept unchanged and many overpasses above the motorway were kept. In effect, this part has no emergency lanes and the speed limit is decreased to 110 km/h. Its full reconstruction (and widening to three lanes per direction) is scheduled for years 2027 – 2031.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Notable historical cases are:
- Expressways were formerly allowed to admit an at-grade intersection with a minor public road in exceptional cases. The last such section which remained operational past 1999 was S3 near Szczecin (19 km), opened in 1979, which featured two at-grade road intersections until the reconstruction conducted in years 2019 – 2020.<ref name="rzesnica">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Miekowo Rześnica">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="dabie_goleniow_opening">Template:Cite web</ref> Since 2020, all expressways (as well as motorways) in Poland have only grade-separated intersections. In 2022, the provision allowing at-grade intersections to exist on expressways was formally removed from the ordinance.<ref name="rozp2022"/>
- A6 near Szczecin (29 km) was constructed by Nazi Germany and kept using the original surface made of concrete slabs until the reconstruction conducted in years 1996 – 1999 and (easternmost fragment) 2017 – 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- A18 (70 km) had its southern carriageway constructed by Nazi Germany. The northern carriageway was constructed in 2004 – 2006, while the southern carriageway kept using the original concrete slabs until the reconstruction conducted in years 2020 – 2023.
Speed limits
| Maximum speed (km/h) by vehicle type | File:Znak D9.svg Motorway | File:PL road sign D-7.svg Expressway | |
|---|---|---|---|
| dual-carriageway | single-carriageway | ||
| Private car, motorbike, van up to 3.5Template:Nbspt (does not apply if towing trailer) | 140 | 120 | 100 |
| Bus meeting additional technical requirements | 100 | ||
| Bus; a vehicle over 3.5Template:Nbspt or towing trailer or carrying dangerous materials | 80 | ||
| Vehicle having equipment more than 1.5Template:Nbspm forward of the driver's seat | 60 | ||
| Motorbike (including towing trailer) carrying a child up to 7 years old | 40 | ||
Other restrictions
- Pedestrians, bicycles, mopeds, and agricultural vehicles are not allowed on motorways.
- Minimum speed on motorways is 40 km/h except in extraordinary circumstances (e.g. snow, ice, or a car broken down).
- It is forbidden to stop except in extraordinary circumstances, or to travel backwards.
- Towing is not allowed on motorways, but is permitted on expressways.
Tolls
Since 2023, all state-owned highways are free for vehicles up to 3.5 tons of permissible maximum weight<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (for a passenger car with a trailer, the joint permissible maximum weight of the car and the trailer must not exceed 3.5 tons<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>). On some sections, old inactive infrastructure for toll collection is still in place.
The privately owned sections of A1, A2 and A4 are tolled. These sections are indicated by the motorway sign accompanied by the word Płatna.
| Sign | Section | Manager | Length | PriceTemplate:Efn | Manual toll collection | Electronic toll collection | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Znak D9+Tabliczka T28.svg | A1 | Gdańsk – Toruń | Template:Abbr | 152 km | 30 PLN (€Template:To EUR) | Closed system: there are toll stations on every interchange; the driver receives a ticket upon entering the motorway and pays on the exit, with the price dependent on the distance driven. | Electronic toll collection through the Autopay mobile app<ref name="ReferenceA">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="autopay.pl">Template:Cite web</ref> allows one to choose the "fast gates" instead of waiting in the queue to the regular gates. | The gates are occasionally opened during the peaks of tourist traffic if the waiting time for the gates would have otherwise exceeded 25 minutes. In such circumstances no payment is collected neither by the manual nor the electronic system.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| A2 | Rzepin – Poznań-West | Template:Abbr | 133 km | 50 PLN (€Template:To EUR) | Template:N/a | Template:Nowrap, including the common sections with S5 and S11, is free. | ||
| Poznań-East – Sługocin | 85 km | 64 PLN (€Template:To EUR) | Open system: two toll stations are located at the ends of the section; a person driving the whole distance pays at both gates, while a person entering or leaving the motorway mid-section pays only at one gate. | Electronic toll collection through the Autopay mobile app<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="autopay.pl"/> allows one to choose the "fast gates" instead of waiting in the queue to the regular gates. | ||||
| A4 | Mysłowice – Template:Nowrap | Template:Abbr | 52 km | 32 PLN (€Template:To EUR) | Template:Nowrap, including the common sections with S7 and S52, is free. | |||
Vehicles over 3.5 tons and buses
Using e-Toll is obligatory for buses as well as all vehicles with maximum permissible weight exceeding 3.5 tons (including the trailer) while driving on the Polish roads (not just the highways). More details can be found on the e-Toll website.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Traffic volumes
Traffic volumes in Poland note rapid increase since the fall of communism in 1989: the annual average daily traffic recorded in 2020 amounts to over 360% of the average traffic recorded in 1990.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="gpr2020_synteza">https://www.gov.pl/attachment/f49c90ff-eb1c-469c-8ab4-04bf91ac7db0 Template:Bare URL PDF</ref> With the increasing traffic, the length of overburdened single-carriageway national roads<ref name="gpr2015_synteza">The measurement analysis defines a regular single-carriageway road as overburdened if recorded average annual traffic exceeds 15'000 vehicles per day, see Template:Cite web</ref> had also been steadily increasing until reaching the maximum of 1389 km in 2010.<ref>https://www.archiwum.gddkia.gov.pl/userfiles/articles/g/GENERALNY_POMIAR_RUCHU_2010/0.1.1.5_Synteza_GPR_2010.pdf Template:Bare URL PDF</ref> Due to the large number of highway sections opened between 2010 and 2020, in that decade the length of overburdened roads has fallen down for the first time in history, from 1389 km in 2010 to 1121 km in 2020.<ref name="gpr2020_synteza"/>
The latest general measurement was conducted in 2025, but its results are yet to be published.<ref>https://www.gov.pl/web/gddkia/generalny-pomiar-ruchu-2025</ref> The previous measurement was conducted in 2020, although some measurement days were moved to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic which would have caused the results from 2020 to be unreliable.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The following highways recorded the highest volumes:<ref name="gpr2020">Template:Cite web</ref>
| Busiest highways in Poland (absolute numbers) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Section | Template:Nowrap | Notes |
| 1 | S8 in Warsaw | 198,000 | Template:Nowrap Highest AADT on sections with 3 lanes per direction: 179k. S8 in Warsaw serves both the transit and local traffic, and long jams form on it during rush hours. Template:Nowrap |
| 2 | Template:Nowrap | 143,000 | Data from 2023 – the results from 2020 were not considered reliable because the tunnel section was missing.<ref>https://www.archiwum.gddkia.gov.pl/frontend/web/userfiles/articles/s/stacje-ciaglych-pomiarow-ruchu-d_41706/WARSZAWA/2023/14018_2023.pdf Template:Bare URL PDF</ref> Template:Nowrap. Template:Nowrap |
| 3 | S86 | 113,000 | S86 serves mainly local traffic between Sosnowiec and Katowice and is not part of Poland's transit network. 3 lanes per direction. |
| 4 | A4 in Katowice | 105,000 | A4 serves both the transit traffic (2 lanes per direction) and local traffic (2 lanes per direction). |
| Busiest highways in Poland (per number of lanes) | |||
| No | Section | Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap | Notes |
| 1 | S8 in Warsaw | Template:Nowrap | See above. |
| 2 | S2: Warsaw southern bypass | 143,000 / 2×3 lanes | |
| 3 | S6: Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia bypass | 93,000 / 2×2 lanes | Some decrease in traffic on S6 is expected after Tricity Outer Bypass (S7) is opened in late 2025. |
| 4 | A4: Kraków western bypass | 85,000 / 2×2 lanes | Some decrease in traffic on A4 is expected after Kraków eastern bypass (S7) is opened in mid-2026. Widening to 3 lanes per direction is planned in the future (after 2030). |
The other highest and lowest recorded AADT values were:
| Category | Section | Template:Nowrap | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Busiest regular national roads Note: Measurements are not performed on national roads within the borders of major cities | |||
| Busiest dual-carriageway national road | DK7 north of Warsaw | 63,000 | Template:Nowrap New parallel route of S7 is planned to be opened in the future (around 2032). |
| Template:Nowrap | DK44 west of Kraków | 36,000 | Widening to 2 lanes per direction is planned in the future (after 2030).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Template:Nowrap within the planned highway network | DK19 north of Lublin | 28,500 | S19 is under construction, expected to be opened in mid-2027. |
| Busiest single-carriageway highways | |||
| Busiest single-carriageway highway | S1 near Żywiec | 17,000 | |
| Least busy highways | |||
| Least busy single-carriageway highway | Template:Nowrap | 700 | Data from 2024 – the results from 2020 were not considered reliable due to restrictions in crossing the external EU borders during the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref name="gpr2020_synteza"/><ref>https://www.archiwum.gddkia.gov.pl/frontend/web/userfiles/articles/s/stacje-ciaglych-pomiarow-ruchu-d_41706/OLSZTYN/2023/28802_2023.pdf Template:Bare URL PDF</ref><ref>https://www.archiwum.gddkia.gov.pl/frontend/web/userfiles/articles/s/stacje-ciaglych-pomiarow-ruchu-d_41706/RZESZOW/2023/18804_2023.pdf Template:Bare URL PDF</ref> |
| Least busy dual-carriageway highway | A4 near Template:Nowrap | 2,300 | |
| Least busy highway excluding near-border sections | Template:Nowrap | 3,900 – 6,400 | |
History
Before World War II
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The first plans of creation of a national highway network in Poland were conceived in the interwar period:
The main promoter of this concept was Professor Melchior Wladyslaw Nestorowicz of the Warsaw University of Technology, who organized three Road Congresses, during which a group of specialists discussed the creation of the network. On 5 March 1939, in the trade magazine Drogowiec, Professor Nestorowicz proposed a very ambitious plan for the construction of almost 5,000 kilometres of category I and II roads, based on similar programmes in Germany and Italy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nestorowicz sketched a map of the future system with the following routes:
First class roads would, according to the plans, consist of the following motorways (totalling some Template:Cvt:
- Warsaw - Łódź - 100 km
- Warsaw – Poznań - Polish-German border - 350 km
- Warsaw beltway - 130 km
- Poznań beltway - 80 km
- Gdynia – Bydgoszcz – Łódź – 500 km
- Łódź beltway - 90 km
- Bytow - Free City of Danzig border - 50 km
- Katowice – Kraków – Lwów - 375 km
- Warsaw – Lublin - Lwów – Sniatyn - Polish-Romanian border - 550 km
- Puławy – Sandomierz – Przemyśl - 175 km
Second class roads would consist of the following motorways, totalling another Template:Cvt:
- Piotrków Trybunalski - Kielce - Sandomierz - 180 km
- Warsaw – Kielce – Kraków - 180 km
- Łódź - Kalisz - Polish-German border north of Wrocław - 130 km
- Warsaw – Grodno – Vilnius – Polish - Lithuania - Latvian border near Daugavpils - 575 km
- Grodno - Nowogrodek - Polish-Soviet border near Minsk - 190 km
- Bydgoszcz – Poznań – Częstochowa - 350 km
- Katowice – Cieszyn – Polish-Czechoslovak border - 60 km
- Ostrołęka - Polish-East Prussian border - 50 km
- Grodno - Polish-Lithuanian border - 40 km
- Grodno - Brzesc nad Bugiem - Krasnystaw - 300 km
- Warsaw – Brzesc nad Bugiem - 170 km
In 1934, Nazi Germany started the construction of their motorway system, parts of which today form A18 and A4 to Wrocław (Breslau), as well as A6 (Szczecin bypass) and S22 (parts of the planned motorway to Königsberg). About half of them were constructed as single-carriageway with the intention of adding a second carriageway in later years. However, after 1938, warfare expenses meant little money would be invested into any infrastructure and only one 9 km single-carriageway piece west of Gliwice (now A4) was constructed.
In Poland, a 28 km stretch between Warlubie and Osiek (now DW214) was constructed in 1937 – 1939 in the motorway standard of the time (today not considered a highway) with a concrete surface, which was designed by Italian engineer Piero Puricelli. The motorway was planned to reach Gdynia, but the outbreak of the Second World War halted the plans.
1945 – 1972
The aforementioned fragments of the Third Reich motorways (about half of them with only the first carriageway constructed) became part of the territory of the communist Poland after the Potsdam conference in 1945. Most of the motorway bridges had been destroyed by the warfare, but only a few were repaired or rebuilt in the first post-war years. The bridge over Ina river was reconstructed in 1972, and those on S22 only between 1996 and 2003. Apart from the bridges, almost all the motorways were left in the same condition as they were in 1945 until the mid-1990s. The only road left from Nazi times that was completed by the People's Republic of Poland was a one-carriageway small section between Łęczyca and Lisowo (15 km of what is now DW142), which was built on the previous works of Nazis.
At the post-war year there were very ambitious plans to make a motorway network for the whole Poland. For example, engineer Eugeniusz Buszma has published his propositions to the network in the magazine "Drogowiec" (1946, issue 1):
- East – West (Słubice – Warsaw – Białystok) – 680 km
- North – South (Gdynia – Warsaw – Balkans) – 650 km
- Silesia – Baltic I (Gdańsk – Łódź – Katowice) – 460 km
- Pomeranian (Gdańsk – Szczecin) – 280 km
- Silesian (Wrocław – Katowice – Kraków) – 190 km
- Mazurian (Kaliningrad – Elbląg – Malbork) – 20 km
- Silesia – Baltic II (Bydgoszcz – Wrocław) – 260 km
- Łódź – Wrocław – (Prague) – 310 km
- Katowice – (Vienna) – 60 km
- Poznań – Szczecin – 200 km
- Radom – Lublin – (Lviv) – 220 km
In total, the mileage, according to the proposal, would total more than Template:Cvt.
After the addition of the sections built by the Third Reich the total network length had to be approx. 3700 km. In 1963 the Motorization Council at the Council of Ministers had presented the similar plan plus the motorways: Warsaw-Kraków-Zakopane, Kraków-Przemyśl, Warsaw-Bydgoszcz-Koszalin, Poznań-Koszalin i Warsaw-Terespol (approx. 1250 km).
Despite announcing such pompous plans, no motorway was opened in the meantime.
In the 1970s
Only in the 1970s the construction of the first highways started.
In 1972 it was planned to build:
- the Gliwice-Kraków motorway (now A4)
- the second carriageway of the Wrocław-Gliwice motorway (also A4)
- the Warsaw-Katowice motorway (so-called "Gierkówka", now the S8/A1 road), in the near future
The plans were expanded in 1976 by the following sections:
- Tarnów – Kraków (now A4),
- eastern GOP (Górnośląski Okręg Przemysłowy) bypass (now S1, northern part),
- Bielsko-Biała – Cieszyn (now S52, southern part),
- Warszawa – Poznań (so-called Olimpijka, now A2),
- Łódź – Piotrków Trybunalski (now A1).
In 1973 – 1976, "Gierkówka" dual carriageway from Warsaw to Katowice (Template:Cvt) was built. Originally planned as a motorway, it was in the end constructed by adding another carriageway to the existing road, hence going through many villages and crossing with local roads. The part from Piotrków Trybunalski to Częstochowa (78 km) was constructed as a new route on a motorway alignment, but the crossings between the highway and other roads were constructed as one-level intersections with pedestrian crossings and no viaducts or overpasses.
| Signage | Section | Length | Start of construction | Opening |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:DK1-PL.svg | Piotrków Trybunalski – Częstochowa substandard (multiple at-grade intersections), constructed on motorway alignment, not signed as a highway |
Template:Cvt | Template:Dts | Template:Dts |
| File:S6-PL.svg | Tri-city bypass (eastern carriageway) substandard (two at-grade intersections, then reconstructed when adding a second carriageway in the 1980s) |
Template:Cvt | Template:Dts | Template:Dts |
| Szczecin-Rzęśnica (end of post-German A6 motorway) – Goleniów substandard (two at-grade intersections) |
Template:Cvt | Template:Dts | Template:Dts | |
| Total | Template:Cvt of which Template:Cvt single carriageway | |||
In the 1980s
Near the end of the 1970s the first construction of motorways started and continued to the next decade. The roads opened in the 1980s were the first motorways and expressways which generally meet the contemporary standards (at least with respect to their more important attributes), although in multiple cases the poor quality of their construction forced major renovations to be performed as soon as within the first 20 years of operation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The major routes planned as motorways were A1, A2 and A4, while other main routes were planned as expressways. The implementation of these plans, however, came at a very slow pace: throughout the 1980s, only an average of Template:Cvt of highways in the whole country were being opened per year.
In the 1990s
In the III Republic of Poland, planned S3 was promoted to motorway A3 (the decision was later reversed) and a plan was introduced (also later reversed) of constructing motorway A8 Łódź – Wrocław – Bolków (now S8/A8/S5). Szczecin bypass (A6) and section Olszyna – Krzywa (then named A12, now A4/A18) were promoted to motorways, even though at that time the majority of their lengths was in bad shape, laid with the original concrete surface from the 1930s with no significant works having been performed on any of them throughout the whole communist period.
In the 2000s
As of the beginning of 2000, the vast majority of national and international traffic routes were served by regular national roads with at-grade intersections and pedestrian crossings, most of them leading through the centres of cities, towns and villages, and most of them single carriageway. Only the following number of highways was present:
- about Template:Cvt of modern dual-carriageway motorways and expressways (3.5% of the network as planned nowadays),
- about Template:Cvt of single-carriageway expressways,
- about Template:Cvt of not-resurfaced Nazi German motorways from the 1930s,
- about Template:Cvt of not-resurfaced Nazi German motorways on sections where only the first carriageway had been constructed.
Before the EU membership
At the beginning of the 21st century, the tempo of highway construction started to increase. The main focus was on the west–east motorways A4 and A2. In 2002, a long-awaited renovation of the A4 from Krzywa to Wrocław (93 km) has started, which included laying new high quality surface in place of the Nazi German concrete slabs, reconstruction of all the pre-WWII bridges on the motorway and renovation of the viaducts above the motorway.
This is also the period when Poland started introducing motorway tolls, first in 2000 for the A4 section between Mysłowice and Kraków.
In European Union
1 May 2004 was a crucial day for the history of motorway construction and that is when the length of highway constructions started to increase the most. One of the major advantages of signing the European Union access document was that Poland could get access to large funds for co-financing the construction of new roads and upgrades of the existing road infrastructure. Overall, the co-financing funds amounted to about 43% of the road construction costs during the first 20 years of the EU membership.<ref>https://www.gov.pl/web/gddkia/wspolnota-europejska-i-polskie-drogi</ref>
These years, the existing scattered pieces of highways began to converge into the basis of the future network:
- until 2004, Katowice and Kraków (linked by A4) were the only pair of Poland's largest cities connected by a highway;
- in 2005, A4 connected Wrocław with Katowice and Kraków, while in 2009 – with Germany;
- in 2006, A2 connected Poznań with Łódź.
A large number of expressway bypasses of towns were also constructed at this time. On many of them, only one carriageway was built, with the allocated space prepared for easy construction of the second carriageway later.
2011 – 2015
In the five years from 2011 to 2015, 1563 kilometers of motorways and expressways were opened – about as much as in the whole prior history of highway construction combined. The main focus was on developing connections between Poland's largest cities, especially those serving as host venues of UEFA Euro 2012, as well as on extending A4 towards Ukraine.
| Year | Length | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Template:Cvt | |
| 2012 | Template:Cvt | Of which Template:Cvt were opened before Euro 2012 championship |
| 2013 | Template:Cvt | |
| 2014 | Template:Cvt | |
| 2015 | Template:Cvt | |
| Total | Template:Cvt | Of which 26 km first carriageway, 23 km second carriageway |
The sections opened in 2011 – 2015 belonged to the following highways:
- File:A1-PL.svg: + 273 km (A1 on the section Gdańsk – Łódź was completed in 2014)
- File:A2-PL.svgFile:S2-PL.svg: + 234 km (A2 on the section Germany – Warsaw was completed in 2012)
- File:S3-PL.svg: + 88 km (S3 on the section Szczecin – A2 – Zielona Góra was completed in 2013, except that its older single-carriageway parts remained so until 2017)
- File:A4-PL.svg: + 183 km
- File:S7-PL.svg: + 138 km
- File:A8-PL.svgFile:S8-PL.svg: + 365 km (S8 on the section Wrocław – Łódź was completed in 2014)
- File:S1-PL.svgFile:S5-PL.svgFile:S6-PL.svgFile:S11-PL.svgFile:S12-PL.svgFile:S17-PL.svgFile:S19-PL.svgFile:S51-PL.svgFile:S61-PL.svgFile:S74-PL.svgFile:S79-PL.svg: + 282 km in total
2016 – 2020
After the peak of investments before Euro 2012, very few new contracts for road construction were signed in 2012 and 2013. This resulted in a small number of sections being opened in 2015 and 2016, a large share of which were the last delayed fragments originally scheduled for a Euro 2012 opening. In particular:
- In 2016, the last delayed fragment of File:A4-PL.svg between Kraków and Ukraine was opened, making A4 the first major Polish highway completed on its whole length, as well as the first complete border-to-border highway connection.
- Also in 2016, the delayed bypass of Łódź was finished, making File:A1-PL.svg completed on its whole route except for those sections where national road 1 had already been a dual carriageway (see In the 1970s), allowing for a significantly lower priority of constructing the remaining stretch compared to other highways.
Since 2014, the number of signed contracts has risen again, resulting in the number of road openings having risen again since 2017.
| Year | Length | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Template:Cvt | |
| 2017 | Template:Cvt | |
| 2018 | Template:Cvt | |
| 2019 | Template:Cvt | |
| 2020 | Template:Cvt | |
| Total | Template:Cvt | Of which 13 km first carriageway, 81 km second carriageway |
The sections opened in 2016 – 2020 belonged to the following highways:
- File:S3-PL.svg: + 173 km
- File:S5-PL.svg: + 227 km (S5 on the section Poznań – Wrocław was completed in 2019)
- File:S6-PL.svg: + 128 km (S6 on the section Szczecin – Koszalin was completed in 2019)
- File:S7-PL.svg: + 213 km
- File:S8-PL.svg: + 128 km (S8 on its originally intended route from Wrocław to Białystok was completed in 2019; an extension to Kłodzko was later added to the plans)
- File:S17-PL.svg: + 97 km (S17 on the section Warsaw – Lublin was completed in 2020)
- File:A1-PL.svgFile:A2-PL.svgFile:S2-PL.svgFile:A4-PL.svgFile:S11-PL.svgFile:S12-PL.svgFile:S19-PL.svgFile:S51-PL.svgFile:S61-PL.svg: + 315 km in total (A4 was completed in 2016)
2021 – 2025
The high tempo of highway development continued in the 2020s. The main focus was on construction of new highways in the less populated eastern Poland, including the international routes Via Carpatia and Via Baltica.
| Year | Length | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Template:Cvt | |
| 2022 | Template:Cvt | |
| 2023 | Template:Cvt | |
| 2024 | Template:Cvt | |
| 2025 | Template:Cvt | Opened sections and planned openings in 2025<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Total | Template:Nowrap | Of which 7 km first carriageway, 101 km second carriageway |
The sections opened, or planned to get opened, in 2021 – 2025 belong to the following highways:
- File:A1-PL.svg: + 81 km (A1 was completed in 2022)
- File:A2-PL.svgFile:S2-PL.svg: + 106 kmTemplate:Efn
- File:S3-PL.svg: + 104 km (S3 was completed in 2025)
- File:S6-PL.svg: + 106 kmTemplate:Efn
- File:S7-PL.svg: + 191 kmTemplate:Efn (S7 on the section Warsaw – Kraków was completed in 2024; a temporary detour through Kraków north-western bypass will be in use until Kraków eastern bypass is completed in 2026)
- File:S11-PL.svg: + 80 km
- File:A18-PL.svg: + 70 km (reconstruction of the pre-WWII southern carriageway of A18 was completed in 2023)
- File:S19-PL.svg: + 163 kmTemplate:Efn (S19 "Via Carpathia" on the section Lublin – Rzeszów was completed in 2022, except that its older fragment with 2+1 lanes will remain so until 2026)
- File:S61-PL.svg: + 183 km (S61 "Via Baltica" was completed in 2025)
- File:S1-PL.svgFile:S5-PL.svgFile:S14-PL.svgFile:S16-PL.svgFile:S17-PL.svgFile:S52-PL.svgFile:S74-PL.svg: + 206 km in totalTemplate:Efn (S5 was completed in 2022 except its newly planned extensions to Ostróda and Bolków)
Total length of highways by year
| Year | Length of motorways and expressways (end of the year) |
|---|---|
| 1936 (then Nazi Germany) | 92 km |
| 1937 (then Nazi Germany) | 104 km and 38 km first carriageway |
| 1938–1945 (then Nazi Germany) | 133 km and 135 km first carriageway (further below not considered as a motorway until addition of the second carriageway) |
| 1939–1945 (Poland) | 28Template:Nbspkm (today not considered as a highway) |
| 1945–1976 | 133 km |
| 1977 | 169 km |
| 1978 | 169 km |
| 1979 | 190 km |
| 1980 | 190 km |
| 1981 | 190 km |
| 1982 | 190 km |
| 1983 | 255 km |
| 1984 | 278 km |
| 1985 | 321 km |
| 1986 | 327 km |
| 1987 | 327 km |
| 1988 | 348 km |
| 1989 | 366 km |
| 1990 | 381 km |
| 1991 | 399 km |
| 1992 | 399 km |
| 1993 | 403 km |
| 1994 | 405 km |
| 1995 | 440 km |
| 1996 | 453 km |
| 1997 | 456 km |
| 1998 | 490 km |
| 1999 | 502 km |
| 2000 | 592 km |
| 2001 | 630 km |
| 2002 | 639 km |
| 2003 | 727 km |
| 2004 | 781 km |
| 2005 | 848 km |
| 2006 | 1013 km |
| 2007 | 1083 km |
| 2008 | 1282 km |
| 2009 | 1454 km |
| 2010 | 1560 km |
| 2011 | 1865 km |
| 2012 | 2495 km |
| 2013 | 2805 km |
| 2014 | 3100 km |
| 2015 | 3131 km |
| 2016 | 3252 km |
| 2017 | 3510 km |
| 2018 | 3811 km |
| 2019 | 4214 km |
| 2020 | 4337 km |
| 2021 | 4690 km |
| 2022 | 4933 km |
| 2023 | 5116 km |
| 2024 | 5206 km |
| 2025 | 5486 km (forecast<ref name="gddkia_contracts'_completion_dates"/>) |
| 2026 | 5937 km (forecast<ref name="gddkia_contracts'_completion_dates"/>) |
| 2027 | 6148 km (forecast<ref name="gddkia_contracts'_completion_dates"/>) |
| 2028 | 6486 km (forecast<ref name="gddkia_contracts'_completion_dates"/>) |
| 2029 | 6601 km (forecast<ref name="gddkia_contracts'_completion_dates"/>) |
| 2030 | approx. 6800 km (plans<ref name="przetargi_2025">Template:Cite web</ref>) |
| 2031 | approx. 7000 km (plans<ref name="pbdk_2033"/><ref name="gddkia_planned_construction_dates"/>) |
| 2035 | approx. 8000 km (plans<ref name="pbdk_2033"/><ref name="gddkia_planned_construction_dates"/>) |
| 2040 | approx. 8250 km – full network (plans<ref name="pbdk_2033"/>) |
See also
- Classes and categories of public roads in Poland
- Template:Section link
- List of controlled-access highway systems
- Evolution of motorway construction in European nations
Notes
References
External links
- General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (in Polish, some information also in English)
Template:Motorways and expressways in Poland Template:Motorways in Europe Template:Roads in Europe