Krakow and Warsaw have been connected by the S7 expressway, and the Krakow agglomeration has gained an important section of the Krakow Northern Bypass, the S52 expressway, facilitating transit through the northern part of the city. The General Directorate of National Roads and Highways opened 25 km of new routes to traffic on December 23, 2024, which will significantly improve the transport backbone of the region. This is the most important road investment this year
The symbolic opening of these key roads for Poland was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, Infrastructure Minister Dariusz Klimczak, Deputy Minister Stanislaw Bukowiec, as well as parliamentarians of the Kraków and Małopolska Voivodeship, local government officials, representatives of GDDKiA, contractors and many residents of Kraków.
Today is an extremely solemn moment. This is not only a route that will connect Krakow with the capital and later with Gdansk, but it is a route that is supplemented by 33 km of local roads. Thank you very much to the authorities of the city, province and many municipalities, thank you to the contractors, to everyone who worked every day to make this road available just today. This is not only an extraordinary, but also a strategic investment. We have been waiting for a Krakow bypass and an express link to Warsaw. Generations of Cracovians have been waiting, and today we finally got it,” said Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.
We’ve already opened several important expressways this year, as well as new sections of the A2 highway, but none of them has been as important for communication, transport and the functioning of a large agglomeration as the Krakow bypass and the missing section of S7. This is the road that connects Krakow and Warsaw – two great cities between which Poles willingly travel, where various companies operate, because this road is important not only for the ordinary driver, but first and foremost for the Polish economy, transportation and communication, for tourists who move between Krakow and Warsaw,” said Infrastructure Minister Dariusz Klimczak.
S7 Widoma – Northern Bypass of Krakow
The completion of the 13.3-kilometer S7 route between the Widoma junction and the Northern Bypass of Krakow makes it possible to connect the two largest cities in Poland – Warsaw and Krakow – by expressway. The two centers will be connected by 270 km of the modern S7 route.
Construction of this road is not yet fully completed. Along the route, work remains to be done on interchanges and fencing, among other things. Work on this section is scheduled to be completed next spring. Communication of the S7 with the S52 will be provided by a connector, which will handle traffic in both directions until the completion of works within the Mistrzejowice interchange. By the end of 2025, GDDKiA plans to make available another section of the S7, between the Grębałów and Nowa Huta interchanges. In the middle of 2026, the construction of Mistrzejowice will be completed, thus closing the Krakow road ring. The S7 route is a modern, two-lane expressway with two lanes in each direction and a reserve for a third lane. As part of the task, 19 retention reservoirs were built.
The S7 expressway received PLN 534.8 million in funding from the Infrastructure and Environment Operational Program and PLN 420.7 million in funding from the European Funds for Infrastructure, Climate, Environment Operational Program. The cost of the work is more than PLN 1.7 billion. The section was built by a consortium of Gulermak (leader), Gűlermak Ağir Sanayi İnşaat ve Taahhűt and Mosty Lodz.
S52 Northern Bypass of Krakow
The 12.3-kilometer-long eastern section of Krakow’s Northern Bypass, which has been opened to traffic, is a section of the S52 expressway, which will eventually connect Cieszyn and Krakow. The new route runs along the northern borders of Krakow, connecting at the Zielonki interchange with the Wolbrom Route, at the Węgrzce interchange with Al. 29 Listopada, and through the Batowice interchange with Nowa Huta’s Mistrzejowice. The bypass has three lanes in each direction.
The investment includes two tunnels – Zielonki (653 m) and Dziekanowice (496 m). These are among the most modern facilities of their kind in Europe. In addition to standard elements such as smoke and heat detectors, 114 regular and thermal imaging cameras and 42 fans, an automatic fire extinguishing system was installed. This is the only one of its kind in Poland today.
A nearly 570m flyover was also built along the route of the bypass, running over Krakowska Street in Bosutów and the Sudół Dominikański stream. The flyover’s roadway runs almost 13 meters above ground level in some places. The bypass is connected to other roads through three new interchanges: Zielonki (with Trasa Wolbromska), Węgrzce (with Al. 29 Listopada) and Batowice (with Os. Piastów and Batowice). Twenty kilometers of access roads were also built.
Twenty-seven bridges, overpasses and flyovers were built along the route, with a total length of almost 1.9 km, retaining walls of more than 4.4 km. Along the route, 23 retention reservoirs were built.
The construction of the new road was a complex engineering project, with nearly a quarter of the route running in tunnels, over viaducts and overpasses. In order to properly prepare the road, soil reinforcements were necessary. In some places, special piles were driven as deep as 30 meters. There is more than 100 meters of level difference along the route, which was a major challenge for the engineers designing the route at the stage of designing and then building the road.
The S52 route received PLN 789.6 million in funding from the Infrastructure and Environment Operational Program. The cost of the work is about PLN 1.4 billion. The section was built by a consortium of Gulermak (leader), Gűlermak Ağir Sanayi İnşaat ve Taahhűt and Mosty Lodz.
Source: MI
