Autostrada A4 (Poland)

The A4 highway in Poland is a motorway which, when completed, will run from west to east through southern Poland, from the Polish-German border in Zgorzelec (connecting to the German A4 autobahn), through Wrocław, Katowice, Kraków, Tarnów, and Rzeszów to the Polish-Ukrainian border in Korczowa. The highway is a part of the European route E40. At present about 380 km of the highway have been completed, out of the planned total length of 670 km. The section already completed, essentially the western half of the highway, runs continuously from the border with Germany to Kraków, except for a missing section of about 50 km between Zgorzelec and Bolesławiec which was delayed due to legal problems in the bidding process. These have been resolved and construction started in April, 2007, to be completed by December, 2008. The eastern section from Kraków to the border with Ukraine was to be finished by about 2013, but because of UEFA decision to host 2012 UEFA European Football Championship in Poland and Ukraine, the date was moved up to 2012. The first portion of this route, the 20 km stretch from Wieliczka to Szarów east of Kraków, is under construction since April 27, 2007 and will be ready before May, 2009 [http://www.gddkia.gov.pl/article/informacje/aktualnosci/article.php/id_item_tree/95133475cf8385f5e79f6e0a9e10f6d5/id_art/c0db505f2657c59a4aa968dda058bcfb] .

Large stretches of this motorway were initially built as a "Reichsautobahn" by Nazi Germany in the 1930s. After the war, when the new borders placed them in Poland, they received minimal maintenance and upgrades, becoming notorious for the bad quality of their road surfaces (a similar phenomenon was observed in Communist East Germany). In recent years, due to extensive reconstruction, especially of the section between Legnica and Wrocław, all traces of the old concrete road surface have been removed. Some features of the 1930s standards of construction remain however, for example the above stretch does not have an emergency lane, which will however be added in the future.

External links

* [http://www.zgorzelec-krzyzowa.pl/ Page about the construction of section from Zgorzelec to Krzyżowa (with galleries)]
* [http://www.wielicka-szarow.pl/ Page about the construction of section from Wieliczka to Szarów (with galleries)]