Highways in Poland

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 2024, such sections constitute 3.5% 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 the total of 434 km of highways were constructed (5% of the planned network). 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. It is planned to open about 3000 km (about 37%) in the 2020s, while the last 10% would be completed after 2030. As of May 2024, there are 5115,6 km of motorways and expressways in operation (62% of the intended network), while contracts for construction of further 1115 km (14% of the network) are ongoing. Except for the single-carriageway expressways, both types of highways fulfill the definition of a motorway as characterized 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 in case of single-carriageway expressway sections). Some motorway stretches are tolled.