1. Definitions of highways according to Polish law

2. Technical parameters
     Maximum speeds allowed on highways  

3. Tolls
     Open system    Closed system    Free motorways    viaTOLL payment system    Planned Electronical Toll Collection System  

4. List of Polish motorways and expressways with progress of construction

5. History
     Before World War II    After 1945    Situation    Plans    In the 1970s    In the 1980s    In the 1990s    At the beginning of the new millennium    Before Poland received the EU membership    Poland in EU  

6. Total length of motorways and expressways in Poland (end of the year)^[12]

7. See also

8. References

9. External links

• National roads: {{convert|19292.8|km|0|abbr=on}}, {{convert|0.2|km|abbr=on}} unsurfaced
• Voivodeship roads: {{convert|29108.6|km|0|abbr=on}}, {{convert|52|km|0|abbr=on}} unsurfaced
• Powiat roads: {{convert|125092.3|km|0|abbr=on}}, {{convert|10380|km|0|abbr=on}} unsurfaced
• Gmina roads: {{convert|246142.7|km|0|abbr=on}}, {{convert|118285.1|km|0|abbr=on}} unsurfaced

Definitions of highways according to Polish law

The 21 March 1985 Public Roads Act, with later amendments, defines the motorways and expressways as follows:

• A motorway is a public road with limited access which is designated for motor vehicles only, and is marked with at least two continuous lanes in each direction which are divided by a barrier. They have no one-level interchanges with all the intersecting roads with the land and water transport. They are equipped with roadside rest areas, which are intended only for users on the motorway.

Under current plans, three motorways will have spanned the country by 2022, with two routes running along an east to west axis (A2 running centrally and A4 running southerly) and one motorway traversing a north to south axis (A1 running centrally). In addition, three shorter motorway stretches: A6, A8 and A18, complete the planned motorway network. The only complete motorway stretches are A4 and A8. All others are currently (partially) under construction or in various stages of planning. As of 30 March 2018, {{convert|1703.8|km|2|abbr=on}} of motorways are in use (of which {{convert|71.5|km|mi|2|abbr=on}} one-carriageway). Some motorway stretches are tolled, others (predominantly the bypasses of large cities and newly-opened stretches) are free of charge. Motorways are the only roads in Poland which use blue background on road signs - others use green road signs.

• An express road is a public road with (mostly) limited access which is designated for motor vehicles only, and is marked with one or two continuous divided lanes in each direction. They have no one-level interchanges with all the intersecting roads with the land and water transport, with the exception of minor public roads. They are equipped with roadside rest areas, which are intended only for users on the expressway.

Expressway on-ramp signs in Poland are marked by a white car inside a blue background, while numbered designations are white on a red background, with the letter S preceding the number. Major expressways (in various stages of use, construction, or planning) include S3, S5, S7, S11, S17 and S19 running north to south, and S6, S8, S10, S12 and S74, running east to west. As of 3 July, {{convert|1937.3|km|2|abbr=on}} of expressways are currently in use (of which {{convert|248.42|km|mi|2|abbr=on}} one-carriageway).

Technical parameters

The parameters of these roads are determined by the Ordinance of the Minister of Transport and Maritime Economy of 2 March 1999 - on technical parameters to be met by public roads and their location. Expressways are different from motorways mainly in that they:

1. Can have a single carriageway.
2. Motorways can have interchanges only with main roads. The spacing between nodes should not be less than 15 km, and within borders or near a big city or a group of cities not less than 5 km. In exceptional cases, if necessary for the functional traffic movement, it can be not less than 3 km, but only within or near a large city or in a group of cities. Expressways may have them more often.
3. Sometimes have a junction in built-up areas, where motorways try to avoid it.
4. Is designated for lower speed that the motorway.
5. Have narrower lanes. Emergency lanes can also be narrower, or, in contrast to motorways, not present at all.
6. Expressways have narrower road width (with all structures beside it) than motorways have: 40{{nbsp}}m versus 60{{nbsp}}m in motorways.
7. Expressways may built as the upgrade of the national road (voivodership road only in S61). However, most modern projects are planned and built as a separate road rather than just as an addition of the lanes to the existing one (like S3). Motorways can't be built as an upgrade from a national road but only as a separate road.

Other parameters of the roads:

Maximum speeds allowed on highways

The motorways and expressways built before 1999 do not have to fulfill the technical parameters listed in the ordinance. For instance, S3 near Rzęśnica (West Pomeranian voivodership) has at-grade road interchanges, and it does not need to be reconstructed since it was opened in 1979, but it might be reconstructed in the near future, nonetheless.{{Citation needed|date=July 2018}}

Tolls

At the moment cars are free of payment while driving on expressways, however A1, A2 and A4 are planned as tolled (some parts are already such). The payments go to the National Roads Fund.

The National Roads Fund pays out money, if the amount of income received by the private concessor is less than was expected by the agreement between the government and the concessor. For example, in 2012 33 million PLN was allocated to private companies because of that.

There are two systems of collecting tolls:

Open system

In this system money is only paid at the toll booths put across the road. There different amount of money is paid according to the type of the vehicle. It is relatively cheap, but it forces drivers to stop at each toll booth, thus lowering the capacity of a motorway. For example, the Greater Poland part of A2 has all of its toll booths spaced approx. 50 km apart.

This system is preferred by private concessors and it operates on the following sections:

1. Motorway A2 (both sections managed by Autostrada Eksploatacja S.A.):
   • Krzesiny – Września ({{convert|37.5|km|mi|2|abbr=on}}) from 27.11.2003
   • Września – Konin (Modła) ({{convert|47.7|km|mi|2|abbr=on}}) from 20.12.2002
2. Motorway A4 (section managed by Stalexport Autostrada Malopolska S.A.):
   • Mysłowice-Brzęczkowice – Balice (61 km) from 3.04.2000

Closed system

Another way to collect money from motorway using is so-called closed system, on which there are toll stations on every interchange both entering and exiting the motorway, as well as toll booths on the motorway, which signifies the end of the concession section. In this case the driver receives a ticket while entering the motorway, which must be kept all the time using the motorway. He pays at either toll station while exiting the motorway or at the toll booth. The amount of money depends not only on the type of the car, but also on the distance driven. It is more expensive at the building and maintenance, as the toll stations have to be built at every interchange. However, it requires fewer toll booths across the motorway, which is a big advantage, as the traffic is free-flowing, and there is less fuel consumption. The queues before the tolls are put off the motorway, and are put onto the exits and interchanges.

The following sections are tolled as of 31 March 2018:

1. Motorway A1:
   • Rusocin – Swarożyn ({{convert|24|km|mi|2|abbr=on}}), from 20.02.2008
   • Swarożyn – Nowe Marzy ({{convert|64|km|mi|2|abbr=on}}), from 6.01.2009
   • Nowe Marzy – Czerniewice ({{convert|62|km|mi|2|abbr=on}}), from 11.02.2012
2. Motorway A2:
   • Rzepin – Komorniki ({{convert|133|km|mi|2|abbr=on}}), from 20.05.2012
   • Konin – Stryków ({{convert|103|km|mi|2|abbr=on}}), od 1.07.2011
3. Motorway A4:
   • Bielany Wrocławskie – Gliwice-Sośnica ({{convert|166|km|mi|2|abbr=on}}), from 1.06.2012

Free motorways

The motorways that are toll-free, as of 31 March 2018:

• A6, A8 and A18 on the whole length
• A1 on sections:
  • Toruń-Południe (152nd kilometer) - Piotrków Trybunalski (349th kilometer)
  • Pyrzowice (475th kilometer) - Polish-Czech border (568th kilometer)
• A2 on sections:
  • Poznań-Zach. – Poznań-Wsch. ({{convert|26.07|km|mi|2|abbr=on}}), which will be toll-free as the southern Poznań bypass
  • Sługocin – Żdżary (ca. {{convert|19|km|mi|2|abbr=on}}) as the so-called "buffer zone" between two different systems
  • Arynów – Ryczołek (20,85 km) as the Mińsk Mazowiecki bypass
• A4 on sections:
  • Zgorzelec – Bielany Wrocławskie,
  • Gliwice-Ostropa – Katowice-Murckowska,
  • Between different toll stations at the Gliwice bypass
  • Kraków-Balice - Korczowa

viaTOLL payment system

From 1.07.2011 all vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tons are obliged to have a special viaTOLL apparatus. On the chosen roads (some motorways, expressways and national roads) the special electronic readers are installed. They connect to the apparatus in the vehicle in a wireless way, and they also count the toll the vehicle has to pay. It is possible to buy it on some petrol stations or at the special points of selling. If the apparatus isn't at the place, fines are applied:

• 1500 PLN if the car is heavier than 12 tons
• 750 PLN if the car is heavier than 3.5 tons but lighter than 12 tons.

Planned Electronical Toll Collection System

In 2014 the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development has uncovered the plans to imply the Electronical Toll Collection System. The new plans were made because of the big problems concerning the Manual Toll Collection System. At the time while there is a huge flow of traffic (especially in the holiday period), there are long queues to the toll booths, which, according to some reports, reached up to 10 km. Drivers in these cases are forced to wait 2 hours to pay the toll at the toll booths. That was the reason the works to construct the toll booths on A4 were suspended, even though there were some stages of construction in progress.

The situation wasn't much relieved even after the toll booths had separated a special lane for those vehicles that have been registered into the ViaAuto system. It came out even worse. A lot of experts tell it is one lane less for those paying traditionally.

At those times a few simple solutions were introduced, for example the cashiers themselves giving the tickets. Next solution came from the Council of Ministers, which claimed that the motorway will be free from the day they gave out the decision (06.08.2014) to the end of the summer holidays (it only concerned the period from 4.00 p.m. on Friday to midnight from Sunday to Monday).

Now the ministry is working on the system new electronic system. According to different concepts, there are two options - either the full liquidation of the toll booths or their reconstruction. The reconstructed toll booths had then the toll applied via the viaTOLL system, so every vehicle must have had the viaTOLL apparatus, as the cars and trucks heavier than 3.5 tons have. Taking into account that not every driver drives regularly on the motorway, there must have been an online registration for light cars introduced. After that, when any car would arrive to such a toll booth, the registration plate will be scanned in order to recognise the car. The implication, however, will become true after signing of agreements with private concessionaires first.

List of Polish motorways and expressways with progress of construction

In May 2004, the Council of Ministers of Poland published the document including the planned highway network, the length of which was about {{convert|7200|km|mi|2|abbr=on}} and contains most of the expressways in plans today. In 2007, the cabinet under Jarosław Kaczyński added S79 to the network, planned to facilitate high speed traffic in and out of Warsaw, and determined that a fragment of A2 serving as Warsaw bypass will be constructed in expressway standard as S2.^[2] In 2009, the cabinet under Donald Tusk supplemented plans for the construction of S61 to serve the northeastern region of the country to connect with Lithuania.^[3] In September 2015, S16 was added to the plans, and then extended to Białystok in May 2016. Also in May 2016, plans for two expressway sections, both receiving number S52, were added: northern bypass of Kraków and an expressway from Bielsko-Biała to Głogoczów.^[4]

The following table summarizes the progress of construction of the motorway and expressway network with approximate lengths, as of 1st January 2019:^[5][6][7][8]

History

Before World War II

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 March 5, 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.^[10] 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 {{convert|2500|km|mi|2|abbr=on}}:

• 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 {{convert|2295|km|-1|abbr=on}}:

• 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

At the same time the fascist Germany started the construction of parts of their motorway system that exists today as S22(the motorway to Konigsberg), A18 and A4 to Wroclaw(Breslau), as well as the A6 motorway as the Szczecin bypass(the same road to Konigsberg). Those were all completed by 1938.

The World War II warfare expenses meant little money would be invested into any infrastructure of the occupied Poland. Only the piece of what is now A4 motorway near the GOP was constructed.

After 1945

Situation

The Potsdam conference defined the new borders for Poland, which were completely different from the 1939 ones. It received the so-called Regained Territories from the former Third Reich with the following parts of motorways (some with one carriageway only, some destroyed because of the warfare):

• "Berlinka" (the road to Konigsberg (Kaliningrad)) at the sections between Kołbaskowo and Łęczyca(now A6 and DW142) and between Elbląg and Grzechotki(now S22), in total 106 km
• Silezian, between Olszyna and Brzeg(now A18 and A4, ca. 220 km) and the Ujazd-Gliwice-Zabrze part (about 40 km, now DK88)

Most of the motorway bridges were destroyed by the armies, 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 and expressways 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(PRP) was a one-carriageway small section between Łęczyca and Lisowo (15 km of what is now DW142) in the powiat stargardzki, which was built on the previous works of Nazis.

Plans

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):

1. East – West (Słubice – Warsaw – Białystok) – 680 km
2. North – South (Gdynia – Warsaw – Balkans) – 650 km
3. Silesia – Baltic I (Gdańsk – Łódź – Katowice) – 460 km
4. Pomeranian (Gdańsk – Szczecin) – 280 km
5. Silesian (Wrocław – Katowice – Kraków) – 190 km
6. Mazurian (Kaliningrad – Elbląg – Malbork) – 20 km
7. Silesia – Baltic II (Bydgoszcz – Wrocław) – 260 km
8. Łódź – Wrocław – (Prague) – 310 km
9. Katowice – (Vienna) – 60 km
10. Poznań – Szczecin – 200 km
11. Radom – Lublin – (Lviv) – 220 km

In total, the mileage, according to the proposal, would total more than {{convert|3300|km|-1|abbr=on}}.

After the addition of the sections built by the Third Reich the total network length had to be ca. 3700 km. In 1963 the Motorization Council at the Council of Ministers had prezented the similar plan plus the motorways: Warsaw-Kraków-Zakopane, Kraków-Przemyśl, Warsaw-Bydgoszcz-Koszalin, Poznań-Koszalin i Warsaw-Terespol (ca. 1250 km). None of those plans were realized, however.

Despite announcing such pompous plans, no motorway was opened in the meantime.

In the 1970s

Only in the 1970s did any works start. 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 S1, southern part),
• Warszawa – Poznań (so-called Olimpijka, now A2),
• Łódź – Piotrków Trybunalski (now A1).

In the 1980s

In the 1980s the really first period of massive construction started.

In 1985 the government already planned to build the expressways apart from the motorways. The only roads left as motorways were A1, A2 and A4.(A6 to Rzęśnica and A18 were signed as motorways as they were built by the motorway standards in the 1930s). The realization of these plans however came at a very slow pace. In the 1980s only the following sections of motorways were given to use: Jaworzno(Byczyna)-Kraków(Balice I) of A4({{convert|35.7|km|mi|2|abbr=on}}), Września-Konin(Modła) of A2({{convert|49.2|km|mi|2|abbr=on}}) and Tuszyn-Piotrków-Trybunalski of A1({{convert|16.1|km|mi|2|abbr=on}}).

In the 1990s

In the III Republic of Poland the plans started to change again. The following expressways were promoted to motorway standards, temporarily however: A3 on the planned length became S3, and A8 was shortened to the Wrocław bypass instead of the Łódź-Wrocław-Bolków motorway, in 2001, There are some changes that survived, however: the Szczecin bypass(A6) and the Krzywa-Olszyna roads were promoted to motorways at that time, and still are ones. The signage of Krzywa-Olszyna section was A12, however, instead of the A4 at Krzywa-Krzyżowa and A18 at Krzyżowa-Olszyna.

At the beginning of the new millennium

Before Poland received the EU membership

A few years before Poland entered the EU the tempo of motorway construction increased significantly. The main focus was yet on the east-west motorway A4, although the A2 around Poznań was built, too. Thanks to that by 2005 there was a direct motorway connection to Kraków from Berlin. It was the time when most of the bridges that the World War II destroyed were rebuilt or renovated, especially on A4. However, the pieces of the motorways couldn't have been yet called a network, as only A4 could have been considered as an intercity highway, as it was in 2004. The rest of the highways built were mostly the bypasses of cities. These years started the focus to build comfortable and quick connections between cities. This is also a period when Poland started introducing motorway tolls, as it happened in 2000 with the A4 section between Mysłowice and Kraków(Balice I).

Poland in EU

1 May 2004 was a crucial day for the history of motorway construction, and that is when the highway boom started. The main advantage of signing the document is that Poland from the day on request money from the funds in the European Union, so the money could help build, renovate and upgrade the existing road infrastructure(and not only). Under the government of Prime Minister Marek Belka, the Council of Ministers regulations issued in May 2004 detailed plans for a network of motorways and expressways totaling to {{convert|7200|km|2|abbr=on}} across the republic, including {{convert|2033|km|-1|abbr=on}} of designated motorways (A1, A2 (at that times the S2 section was planned as A2), A4, A6, and A18), and the rest being the expressways (S1, S3, S5, S6, S7, S8, S9 (now S19), S10, S11, S12, S14, S17, S22, S51, S69, and S74).^[11] S86 existed, but it was not shown in the legal documents until 2015 as part of network. That plan is now the basis of the whole highway network, with only small amendments added in later years.

The current planned network consists of six motorways (A1, A2, A4, A6, A8, A18) and 21 expressways (S1-S3, S5-S8, S10-12, S14, S16, S17, S19, S22, S51-52, S61, S74, S79 and S86).^[3]

Total length of motorways and expressways in Poland (end of the year)^[12]

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 – 4301 km (forecast ^[14])

2020 – 4522 km (forecast ^[15])

2021 – 5034 km (forecast ^[15])

2022 – 5400 km (acc. to plans from 2017 ^[12]{{Citation needed|reason=Link to the original source inactive|date=March 2019}})

2023 – 5755 km (acc. to plans from 2017 ^[12]{{Citation needed|reason=Link to the original source inactive|date=March 2019}})

2024 – 6038 km (acc. to plans from 2017 ^[12]{{Citation needed|reason=Link to the original source inactive|date=March 2019}})

2025 – 6145 km (acc. to plans from 2017 ^[12]{{Citation needed|reason=Link to the original source inactive|date=March 2019}})

20?? – 8000 km (year unknown; forecast; according to plans)

See also

• Transport in Poland#Roads

References

External links

• General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (in Polish, some information also in English)

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