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A2 autostrada (Poland)
Encyclopedia
The autostrada A2 in Poland
is a motorway which, when completed, will run from west to east through central Poland, from the Polish-German
border in Świecko
/Frankfurt (Oder)
(connecting to the German A12
autobahn), through Poznań
, Łódź and Warsaw
to the Polish-Belarus
ian border in Terespol
/Brest
(connecting to M1 highway
). The motorway is a part of the European route E30
.
The first highway planned along part of this route was a Reichsautobahn initiated by Nazi Germany
to connect Berlin with Poznań (Posen). The construction of this highway, accelerated after Poznań was incorporated into Germany following the Invasion of Poland
in 1939, was interrupted by the war and never finished, but traces of its earthworks are clearly visible on satellite photographs, especially between the border with Germany and Nowy Tomyśl
. Many of these traces will soon disappear as the modern motorway is going to follow the same route for the most part. A short stretch of the uncompleted highway between the border and Rzepin
was finished as a dual carriageway road after 1945, in effect forming an extension of the German A 12
highway (opened as a Reichsautobahn in the 1930s). Except for this stretch, the construction work was not continued in the decades after the war.
New plans to build the A2 motorway were seriously formulated in communist Poland in the 1970s, possibly with the goal of completing it in time for the Moscow Olympics in 1980. Because of the economic crisis which hit the country in the late 1970s and continued throughout the 1980s, only a 50 km (31.1 mi) section from Września
to Konin
was opened in the 1980s. Construction of another stretch was started and then abandoned, leaving an interesting ruin informally named Olimpijka
.
Intensive construction of the motorway started only in 2001 after the fall of communism in Poland in 1989. Out of the planned total length of 610 km (379 mi), 252 km (156.6 mi) have been completed. A section of about 150 km (93.2 mi) (Nowy Tomyśl
- Poznań
- Września
- Konin
) has been fully open since 2004. This section is a toll road
, with the exception of a short stretch through Poznań which serves as that city's bypass (between the interchanges at Głuchowo and Kleszczewo
). An additional 100 km (62.1 mi) section from Konin
to Stryków
near Łódź was opened on July 26, 2006, and will be toll-free until the arrangements for collecting tolls are worked out. A short 4.8 km (3 mi) bypass of Stryków, consisting of a 2 km extension of the A2 and a provisional single carriageway section of future motorway A1, was opened in December 2008, to ease the heavy traffic in that town generated when the motorway reached it.
to Warsaw was to be built in a public-private partnership
, but the negotiations between the government and private companies interested in participating collapsed in February 2009 due to disputes over financing terms. Now this section of the motorway will be built using public funds alone. The new bidding process was started on March 27, and the contracts for design and construction of the road were signed on September 28. Construction work should begin some time in 2010. The contractors are required to have the motorway open to traffic in time for Euro 2012. This goal is an ambitious one and may be unrealistic, given the possibility of unexpected delays during construction.
As of November 2011 construction to the German border from Nowy Tomyśl is completed. The road was opened to public traffic on December 1. Toll plazas on this stretch of the highway will not be open until May 2012 so use of the western section of the A2 will be free of charge until then.
which has been under construction since August 2009 and should be open in late 2011. Apart from this, construction of the section between Warsaw
and Siedlce
should start first and be finished around 2013. The construction of the remaining section to the border with Belarus may begin as late as 2015, since the traffic density along this route is low and there is no urgent need for a high capacity road.
It is worth noting that the A2 motorway doesn't actually run through Warsaw, as the inhabitants of the districts through which it was to pass have successfully blocked its construction. This outcome was somewhat unusual, since the corridor for the motorway has been reserved by the city planners since the 1970s and kept free of construction. Instead, the traffic will be rerouted through two express roads (S2
and S8
), of lower standard than the originally planned motorway. Paradoxically, one of these roads (S2) will run along the originally planned motorway corridor, so the residents who protested the construction will still end up with a busy road running through their districts, possibly even more inconvenient than the original road would have been. In the most affected area, the district of Ursynów
, the express road will run in a tunnel, which will be built at considerable expense.
|Frankfurt an der Oder, Berlin
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(signed as )
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Road will continue as → Southern Warsaw Bypass.
After bypassing Warsaw, road will continue as
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|Minsk
, Moscow
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Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
is a motorway which, when completed, will run from west to east through central Poland, from the Polish-German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
border in Świecko
Swiecko
Świecko is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Słubice, within Słubice County, Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland, close to Frankfurt an der Oder on the German border...
/Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s it reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants...
(connecting to the German A12
Bundesautobahn 12
is an autobahn in eastern Germany, connecting Berlin to the Polish border.- Exit list :...
autobahn), through Poznań
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
, Łódź and Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
to the Polish-Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
ian border in Terespol
Terespol
Terespol is a town in eastern Poland on the border with Belarus. It lies on the border river Bug, directly opposite the city of Brest, Belarus...
/Brest
Brest, Belarus
Brest , formerly also Brest-on-the-Bug and Brest-Litovsk , is a city in Belarus at the border with Poland opposite the city of Terespol, where the Bug River and Mukhavets rivers meet...
(connecting to M1 highway
M1 highway (Belarus)
The M1 , Magistral Route Nr. 1, olimpijka is a main road crossing Belarus. It forms a part of European route E30 and is the most important road link in the country, connecting Moscow to the east with Poland and Western Europe....
). The motorway is a part of the European route E30
European route E30
European route E 30 is an A-Class West-East European route, extending from the southern Irish port of Cork in the west to the Russian city of Omsk in the east...
.
History of construction
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
to connect Berlin with Poznań (Posen). The construction of this highway, accelerated after Poznań was incorporated into Germany following the Invasion of Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
in 1939, was interrupted by the war and never finished, but traces of its earthworks are clearly visible on satellite photographs, especially between the border with Germany and Nowy Tomyśl
Nowy Tomysl
Nowy Tomyśl is a town in western Poland, in Greater Poland Voivodeship. It is the capital of Nowy Tomyśl County. The population is 15,627 ....
. Many of these traces will soon disappear as the modern motorway is going to follow the same route for the most part. A short stretch of the uncompleted highway between the border and Rzepin
Rzepin
Rzepin is a town in north-western Poland with 6,500 inhabitants .Situated in the Lubusz Voivodeship , in Słubice County it is a seat of the urban-rural Rzepin Gmina. From 1975 till 1998 the town, from an administrative point of view, belonged to the Gorzów Wielkopolski Voivodeship...
was finished as a dual carriageway road after 1945, in effect forming an extension of the German A 12
Bundesautobahn 12
is an autobahn in eastern Germany, connecting Berlin to the Polish border.- Exit list :...
highway (opened as a Reichsautobahn in the 1930s). Except for this stretch, the construction work was not continued in the decades after the war.
New plans to build the A2 motorway were seriously formulated in communist Poland in the 1970s, possibly with the goal of completing it in time for the Moscow Olympics in 1980. Because of the economic crisis which hit the country in the late 1970s and continued throughout the 1980s, only a 50 km (31.1 mi) section from Września
Wrzesnia
Września is a town in central Poland with 28,600 inhabitants . It is situated in the Września County, Greater Poland Voivodeship , previously in Poznań Voivodeship , on the Wrzesnica River.- History :...
to Konin
Konin
Konin is a city in central Poland.Konin may also refer to:*Emperor Kōnin , emperor of Japan who reigned 770–781**Kōnin , a Japanese era name for the years 810–824...
was opened in the 1980s. Construction of another stretch was started and then abandoned, leaving an interesting ruin informally named Olimpijka
Olimpijka
Olimpijka was an informal name for the remnants of an uncompleted motorway that was under construction in 1970s in Poland. It should have crossed the country from east to west and as part of the route between Berlin and Moscow...
.
Intensive construction of the motorway started only in 2001 after the fall of communism in Poland in 1989. Out of the planned total length of 610 km (379 mi), 252 km (156.6 mi) have been completed. A section of about 150 km (93.2 mi) (Nowy Tomyśl
Nowy Tomysl
Nowy Tomyśl is a town in western Poland, in Greater Poland Voivodeship. It is the capital of Nowy Tomyśl County. The population is 15,627 ....
- Poznań
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
- Września
Wrzesnia
Września is a town in central Poland with 28,600 inhabitants . It is situated in the Września County, Greater Poland Voivodeship , previously in Poznań Voivodeship , on the Wrzesnica River.- History :...
- Konin
Konin
Konin is a city in central Poland.Konin may also refer to:*Emperor Kōnin , emperor of Japan who reigned 770–781**Kōnin , a Japanese era name for the years 810–824...
) has been fully open since 2004. This section is a toll road
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
, with the exception of a short stretch through Poznań which serves as that city's bypass (between the interchanges at Głuchowo and Kleszczewo
Kleszczewo, Poznan County
Kleszczewo is a village in Poznań County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Kleszczewo. It lies approximately east of the regional capital Poznań....
). An additional 100 km (62.1 mi) section from Konin
Konin
Konin is a city in central Poland.Konin may also refer to:*Emperor Kōnin , emperor of Japan who reigned 770–781**Kōnin , a Japanese era name for the years 810–824...
to Stryków
Stryków
Stryków is a town in central Poland, in Łódź Voivodeship, in Zgierz County. It has 3,602 inhabitants .-Early history:The first mention of Strykow was in 1387. Strykow was a village situated on the route from Zgierz to Lowicz. Strykow received city rights in 1394 from King Wladyslaw Jagiello, at...
near Łódź was opened on July 26, 2006, and will be toll-free until the arrangements for collecting tolls are worked out. A short 4.8 km (3 mi) bypass of Stryków, consisting of a 2 km extension of the A2 and a provisional single carriageway section of future motorway A1, was opened in December 2008, to ease the heavy traffic in that town generated when the motorway reached it.
Current construction
As of winter 2009/2010, the plan was to finish the whole section between the border with Germany and Warsaw by the Spring of 2012, giving the Polish capital its first motorway connection to the European motorway network in time for the Euro 2012 football championships. That ambitious goal may not be attainable due to various difficulties encountered in finalizing the construction contracts and the delays that resulted. The 90 km section from StrykówStryków
Stryków is a town in central Poland, in Łódź Voivodeship, in Zgierz County. It has 3,602 inhabitants .-Early history:The first mention of Strykow was in 1387. Strykow was a village situated on the route from Zgierz to Lowicz. Strykow received city rights in 1394 from King Wladyslaw Jagiello, at...
to Warsaw was to be built in a public-private partnership
Public-private partnership
Public–private partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies...
, but the negotiations between the government and private companies interested in participating collapsed in February 2009 due to disputes over financing terms. Now this section of the motorway will be built using public funds alone. The new bidding process was started on March 27, and the contracts for design and construction of the road were signed on September 28. Construction work should begin some time in 2010. The contractors are required to have the motorway open to traffic in time for Euro 2012. This goal is an ambitious one and may be unrealistic, given the possibility of unexpected delays during construction.
As of November 2011 construction to the German border from Nowy Tomyśl is completed. The road was opened to public traffic on December 1. Toll plazas on this stretch of the highway will not be open until May 2012 so use of the western section of the A2 will be free of charge until then.
Future plans
The eastern section from Warsaw to the border with Belarus, about 170 km in length, is still in early planning stages. The exception is a short (21 km (13 mi) long) section of A2 forming the bypass of Mińsk MazowieckiMinsk Mazowiecki
Mińsk Mazowiecki is a town in central Poland with 38 181 inhabitants . It is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship , previously in Siedlce Voivodeship...
which has been under construction since August 2009 and should be open in late 2011. Apart from this, construction of the section between Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
and Siedlce
Siedlce
Siedlce ) is a city in eastern Poland with 77,392 inhabitants . Situated in the Masovian Voivodeship , previously the city was the capital of a separate Siedlce Voivodeship ....
should start first and be finished around 2013. The construction of the remaining section to the border with Belarus may begin as late as 2015, since the traffic density along this route is low and there is no urgent need for a high capacity road.
It is worth noting that the A2 motorway doesn't actually run through Warsaw, as the inhabitants of the districts through which it was to pass have successfully blocked its construction. This outcome was somewhat unusual, since the corridor for the motorway has been reserved by the city planners since the 1970s and kept free of construction. Instead, the traffic will be rerouted through two express roads (S2
Expressway S2 (Poland)
Expressway S2 is planned interior bypass expressway in Warsaw and an extension of motorway A2.The road has been planned since the 1970s, initially as part of motorway A2...
and S8
Expressway S8 (Poland)
Expressway S8 or express road S8 is major road in Poland which, when completed, will run along the route Wrocław – Łódź – Warsaw – Białystok. The whole road is planned to be about long...
), of lower standard than the originally planned motorway. Paradoxically, one of these roads (S2) will run along the originally planned motorway corridor, so the residents who protested the construction will still end up with a busy road running through their districts, possibly even more inconvenient than the original road would have been. In the most affected area, the district of Ursynów
Ursynów
Ursynów is the southernmost district of Warsaw. With a surface area of 44.6 km², it is the third largest district in Warsaw, comprising 8.6 percent of the city. The district has a population of almost 148,000, and is one of the fastest growing neighborhoods in Warsaw...
, the express road will run in a tunnel, which will be built at considerable expense.
Exit list
|Frankfurt an der Oder, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
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(signed as )
|-
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----
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|-
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Road will continue as → Southern Warsaw Bypass.
After bypassing Warsaw, road will continue as
----
|Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
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External links
- Official page of the toll company
- Page about the planned road network through Warsaw
- Poland: The Chinese Motorway - news video from European JournalEuropean JournalEuropean Journal is a weekly Deutsche Welle news program produced in English. It is broadcast from Brussels, Belgium and primarily covers political and economic developments across the European Union and the rest of Europe, as well as issues of particular concern to Germany...