Skip to main content

Poland finally completes the cross-country A4 Autostrada

Poland officially opened the 672km A4 Autostrada that runs through southern Poland from the border with Germany to that with the Ukraine. The motorway passes through major Polish cities including Wrocław, Katowice and Kraków.
September 6, 2016 Read time: 1 min

Poland officially opened the 672km A4 Autostrada that runs through southern Poland from the border with Germany to that with the Ukraine.

The motorway passes through major Polish cities including Wrocław, Katowice and Kraków.

Work started in the mid-1980s on various sections and continued piecemeal over the years. In the 1990s, after political change to a more open market economy, plans proceeded to finish the route by 2013.

The completion date was moved forward after Poland became joint host, along with Ukraine, of the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship. There was an urgency to complete road infrastructure projects, according to a report by Radio Poland.

 But a June 2012 date to open the route proved too ambitious and then further delays, including some caused by major floods in 2010, pushed back the completion date.

There is still some work to do on two motorway services that likely will be ready by the end of October.

Related Content

  • Bertha ends her Alaskan Way voyage in Seattle
    December 21, 2017
    Seattle's State Route 99 viaduct is coming down. David Arminas was on site. Bertha, the world’s largest diameter earth pressure balance tunnel boring machine, with a cutterhead diameter of 17.5m, is no more. Her 2.7km journey underneath the waterfront area of Seattle finished on April 4 and the power went off for the last time on an extraordinary TBM that had finally completed an extraordinary job. “A small sidewalk job would have had more impact on city traffic than we have had,” says Brian Russell a v
  • Morocco's road programme boosts economy
    February 9, 2012
    A major road programme instigated by King Mohammed VI of Morocco is helping to boost the country's economy and modernise infrastructure. This forms part of a plan to boost tourism, a key part of the country's income from 8 - 10 million. There were less than 300km of motorways existing when King Mohammed VI inherited the throne from his father in July 1999. Since then, the figure has increased to over 1,000km and this is set to almost double in the next five years. A hugely significant highway programme was
  • Tampere road tunnel - a strategic link for central Finland
    April 4, 2016
    Progress has been good for an important underground road link in Finland reports Adrian Greeman. Assuming all goes well, the new Ranta, or Lakeside, tunnel in Tampere will open in full six months early; traffic could be running by the end of this year. Work on transforming the rundown city centre with new developments will get a major boost. It is a major achievement on a four-year-long project bringing significant benefits to one of Finland's largest cities. From the government's point of view the scheme w
  • Czech transport connections
    April 28, 2020
    Czech transport connections will benefit from spending.