An EU-funded project to construct a 15.37 km section of motorway that runs through Poland’s Mazowieckie Region aims to improve inter-regional connections and help eliminate bottlenecks in the country’s transport network.
- 05 October 2017
As part of an ongoing effort to upgrade Poland’s infrastructure and bring its major roadways up to EU standards, the new section on the S8 highway will run between Marki and Radzymin. The runs through the province of Mazowieckie, begins near Warsaw in the town of Marki. From here, the road goes along the border of Zabki, up to Zielonka, where is crosses the town of Kobyłka and ends in Radzymin.
Connecting Poland
The 15.37 km section of dual-carriageway road will feature three lanes running in each direction and four new road junctions (Zielonka, Kobyłka,Wołomin and Radzymin South). An already existing junction at Marki will also be reconstructed.
The section of road is an important component to the ongoing upgrade of the entire S8. When the upgrade of the S8 complete, the 565 km road will take drivers across Poland, connecting Wrocław, Łódź, Warsaw and Białystok. The road also serves as an important connector to the trans-European road network (TEN-T), being part of the E67 that runs from Prague to Helsinki via Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Although plans originally called for the S8 to continue on to the border with Lithuania, in 2009 authorities instead opted to have the S61 branch off the S8 and run to the border.
Reducing traffic and pollution
The S8 upgrade is specifically designed to ensure that the road is capable of handling the forecast increase in traffic that is expected in the coming years as the surrounding metro areas continue to grow. Furthermore, as the new road eliminates potential traffic bottlenecks, it also helps reduce travel times and the risk of accidents. As drivers spend less time stuck in traffic, the project is contributing to a net decrease in fuel consumption and a reduction in CO2 emissions and noise pollution.
Completing missing sections of Poland’s road network, including this section of the S8, is an important component of the EU’s core TEN-T network. The project, together with similar work on other Polish roads and sections of roads, will increase accessibility to inter-regional connections with the TEN-T road network, thus improving transit and internal traffic across the corridor.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Construction of S8 express road: section Marki node - Radzymin South node” is EUR 266 481 362, with the EU’s Cohesion Fund contributing EUR 116 259 788 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”.