A 38.5-kilometre stretch of Poland’s S8 express highway is being built with support from EU funding. The section of road runs between the town of Wyszków, in the north of the Mazowieckie region, and the border with the Podlaskie region. It begins in the municipality of Brańszczyk in Wyszków county and ends in the municipality of Ostrów Mazowiecka on the regional border.
New section of S8 express road linking Wyszków and Mazowieckie/Podlaskie border
- 29 November 2017
The main scope of the project concerns upgrading the existing national road 8 so that it is in line with the parameters of an express road. This entails converting the road into a dual carriageway, with the carriageways divided by a central reservation and hard shoulders on either side of the road.
Seven road junctions – at Trzcianka, Knurowiec, Poręba, Dybki, Nagoszewo, Podborze and Prosienica – are another feature of the upgrades. New engineering structures built during the project include viaducts, bridges, culverts and crossings for animals.
EU funding for a core European highway
The budget for the project totals more than EUR 317.5 million, of which approximately EUR 154 million comes from EU co-financing. The entire S8 express road is part of the core Trans-European Transport Network.
By adjusting the technical and operational parameters of the Wyszków-Mazowieckie/Podlaskie border section of road, the project is eliminating bottlenecks in the region’s transport infrastructure. It also enables the road to accommodate the higher levels of traffic forecast for the years to come.
Work carried out in the project is increasing the accessibility of inter-regional road connections within the Trans-European Transport Network. It is also improving conditions for both transit and internal traffic in the Mazowieckie region. Finally, the upgrading of national road 8 to an express highway represents another step towards the completion of Poland's express road network.
Linking large cities
The project forms part of a longer section of the S8 currently under construction between Poland’s capital Warsaw and Białystok, the largest city in north-eastern Poland and capital of the Podlaskie region. When completed, the S8 will be around 565 km long and will link Białystok and Warsaw with Łódź and Wrocław, Poland’s third and fourth largest cities, respectively. A section of the road will form part of European route E67 from Prague to Helsinki.
Wyszków, where the stretch of road constructed under the project begins, is home to around 27 000 inhabitants. Industry in the town began to develop after 1897 with the opening of the Pilawa-Tluszcz-Ostrołęka railway on which Wyszków is situated.
It is located around 50 km to the north east of Warsaw and lies on the Bug River. The Bug is Poland’s fourth longest river and also flows through Belarus and Ukraine, forming part of Poland’s border with both countries. It extends over 830 km.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Construction of S8 express road Wyszków - Białystok, section Wyszków – Mazowieckie/ Podlaskie border” is EUR 317 523 087, with the EU’s Cohesion Fund contributing EUR 154 182 783 through the “Infrastructure and Environment” Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 programming period.