.gif)
Expressway S22 (Poland)
Encyclopedia
Expressway S22 or Express Road S22 (in Polish Droga ekspresowa S22) is a single carriageway express road running from Elbląg
to the border with Russia
at Grzechotki
-Mamonovo
(54.422°N 20.069°E), where it connects to a Russian road that continues to Kaliningrad
. The border crossing on the road opened in December, 2010 and is the largest one on the Polish-Russian border, making S22 the key transport connection between the European Union
and the Kaliningrad Oblast
.
The road follows the route of a German single carriageway autobahn between Elbląg (Elbing) and Kaliningrad (Königsberg) built in the 1930s, known informally as Berlinka
. The old autobahn was completely reconstructed and opened as an express road in September 2008. In the course of the upgrade, the new modern carriageway was built in the space left for the second carriageway during original construction. At the same time, the original concrete carriageway was demolished almost along the entire length of the route, and only a few traces of it remain. All of the remaining original overpasses and bridges were demolished and replaced with modern works. Thus very few traces of the original German autobahn can be seen.
The construction of the road cost 483 mln PLN, of which over one third was provided by the European Union.
Elblag
Elbląg is a city in northern Poland with 127,892 inhabitants . It is the capital of Elbląg County and has been assigned to the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship since 1999. Before then it was the capital of Elbląg Voivodeship and a county seat in Gdańsk Voivodeship...
to the border with Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
at Grzechotki
Grzechotki
Grzechotki is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Braniewo, within Braniewo County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland, close to the border with the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia. It lies approximately east of Braniewo and north-west of the regional capital...
-Mamonovo
Mamonovo
Mamonovo , prior to 1945 known by its German name Heiligenbeil, is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. Population: Mamonovo is named after a Soviet Commander, Nikolai Vasilyevich Mamonov , killed in action near Pułtusk on 26 October 1944, who was posthumously given the title Hero of the Soviet...
(54.422°N 20.069°E), where it connects to a Russian road that continues to Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...
. The border crossing on the road opened in December, 2010 and is the largest one on the Polish-Russian border, making S22 the key transport connection between the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and the Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast is a federal subject of Russia situated on the Baltic coast. It has a population of The oblast forms the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, but it has no land connection to the rest of Russia. Since its creation it has been an exclave of the Russian SFSR and then the...
.
The road follows the route of a German single carriageway autobahn between Elbląg (Elbing) and Kaliningrad (Königsberg) built in the 1930s, known informally as Berlinka
Berlinka
Berlinka is the informal Polish and Russian name given to sections of the unfinished Reichsautobahn Berlin-Königsberg, which was a pre-World War II German Reichsautobahn project to connect Berlin with Königsberg in East Prussia. In the late 1930s, the sections near these two cities were...
. The old autobahn was completely reconstructed and opened as an express road in September 2008. In the course of the upgrade, the new modern carriageway was built in the space left for the second carriageway during original construction. At the same time, the original concrete carriageway was demolished almost along the entire length of the route, and only a few traces of it remain. All of the remaining original overpasses and bridges were demolished and replaced with modern works. Thus very few traces of the original German autobahn can be seen.
The construction of the road cost 483 mln PLN, of which over one third was provided by the European Union.