Transport in Poland - Roads

Roads

The road infrastructure of Poland needs more development according to the European Union. As of 31 December 2009, there are 916 kilometres (570 mi) of motorways (autostrady, singular – autostrada); 606 km (380 mi) of expressways (drogi ekspresowe, singular – droga ekspresowa), and an extensive network of other roads (of which about 1,200 km (750 mi) are dual carriageways) connecting all major cities.

In recent years, the network has been improving and government spending on road construction recently saw a huge increase, due to rapid development of the country and the inflow of European Union funds for infrastructure projects. Currently, three major motorways (A1, A2 and A4) spanning the entire country are being built. Many sections are under construction (contracts signed, construction in progress) and almost all remaining parts are contracted to be finished by mid-2012 (before Euro 2012). The only exception is the Warsaw–Belarus connection which is scheduled to be built later. By the end of 2012, 8 of the 10 largest Polish cities (Gdańsk, Poznań, Wrocław, Łódź, Warsaw, Kraków, Katowice, Szczecin) will have a motorway connecting them with the motorway network of Europe.

Polish public roads are grouped into categories related to administrative division. Poland has 412,264 km (256,170 mi) of public roads, of which 131,863 km (81,940 mi) are unsurfaced (2011):

• National roads (Classes A, S, GP and exceptionally G): 18,801 km (11,680 mi), 1.9 km (1 mi) unsurfaced
• Voivodeship roads (Classes G, Z and exceptionally GP): 28,476 km (17,690 mi), 63.2 km (39 mi) unsurfaced
• Powiat roads (Classes G, Z and exceptionally L): 127,743 km (79,380 mi), 11,379 km (7,070 mi) unsurfaced
• Gmina roads (Classes L, D and exceptionally Z): 237,244 km (147,420 mi), 120,419 km (74,820 mi) unsurfaced

According to national roads state report by GDDKiA in 2008 1/4 of national roads were capable of handling 11.5 tonnes per axle loads.