Poland’s new Kraków ring road aims to reduce traffic through a crowded city centre

The project involves building a section of the Kraków Eastern Ring, part of Poland’s major S7 express road construction initiative. This section of the ring stretches from the eastern side of Kraków, connecting the city with the Bieżanów and Nowa Huta districts.

With the addition of this missing part of the Kraków Eastern Ring, the city centre will benefit from having the increasing levels of national and international traffic travelling through the city diverted around its historic core.  

In addition to building nearly five kilometres of six-lane express road, the project also involves the construction of numerous junctions and ramps and an expansion of the DK 79 national road where it intersects with the S7. Plans also call for building sidewalks, bike paths and bus bays along the road. The local tram line will be rebuilt to fit into the new road’s infrastructure, as will roadside lighting, power lines, the water and sewage systems and road drainage ditches.  

An essential component to the S7 express road

With this section of road in place and the Kraków Eastern Ring complete, construction of the S7 express road in the northern part of the Malopolskie region can commence. This section of the S7 will connect Kraków to the southern border of Swietokrzyskie Voivodship province.

When complete, the S7 will run from Gdańsk on the country’s Baltic coast through Elblag, Warsaw, Radom, Kielce and Kraków, finishing at Rabka, located along the country’s border with Slovakia. The S7 will also provide direct access to the A4 motorway, forming a southern corridor running between Kraków, Slovakia and Hungary. Most of this work involves upgrading the existing National Road 7 (DK 7) from two lanes to four and adding such expressway amenities as interchanges, bridges and overpasses. The total length of the S7 is 720 km.

Benefits abound

Viewed from an EU-perspective, this project, and the S7 in general, are part of the EU’s Baltic-Adriatic TEN-T Core Network Corridor – a network of local, national and regional roads connecting the Adriatic with the Baltic states that is working to improve European connectivity and boost trade and tourism. Overall, the TEN-T network aims to adjust the technical and operational parameters of Europe’s roads to handle forecasted traffic levels.

To accomplish this, road construction projects focus on eliminating traffic bottlenecks and completing missing sections in the road network. For example, this project contributes to this objective by ensuring access to the industrial regions of eastern Kraków and the Nowa Huta district. By diverting traffic around the city, the road also plays an influential role in reducing the amount of transit traffic that goes through central Kraków and, as a result, limits the amount of smog in the air.

With a new six-lane, efficient, safe and sustainable road in place, project coordinators expect to see the improvements in the country’s economic development and the quality of life of citizens.

Total investment and EU funding

Total investment for the project “Construction of S7 express road: section Kraków Igołomska node - Christo Botewa node” is EUR 165 762 960, with the EU’s Cohesion Fund contributing EUR 77 338 806 through the “Infrastructure and Environment” Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 programming period. The investment falls under the priority “Development of TEN-T road network and multimodal transport”.