S7 expressway. The journey from Krakow to Warsaw is halved

The section of the S7 expressway between Widoma and Krakow and the Northern Bypass of Krakow along the S52 road will be put into operation on Monday. As reported by Kacper Michna from the Krakow branch GDDKiAthe total length of the expressways made available on Monday is 25 km. – They significantly strengthen the transport backbone of the region – noted the representative of GDDKiA.

The completion of 13.3 km of the S7 route between the Widoma junction and the Mistrzejowice junction in Nowa Huta will allow for the connection of the two largest cities in Poland – Warsaw and Kraków – via expressways. At the Mistrzejowice junction, the S7 road will connect with the Krakow Northern Bypass along the S52 road.

The section between Widoma and Kraków was the last section of S7 to be built north of Kraków in Lesser Poland. After its completion, the two cities will be connected by 270 km of a modern expressway. In the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the road follows a completely new route, departing from the Krakow route marked at the beginning of the 19th century.

According to GDDKiA estimates, the S7 journey between the southern bypass of Warsaw and the northern bypass of Krakow will now take about 2.5 hours, almost twice as short as when the old DK7 running through Radom and Kielce was in operation.

As Michna pointed out, the construction of this road is not fully finished yet, because some elements remain to be done along the route, including: works on junctions and fences. Therefore, the speed limit will be 80 km/h.

– Nevertheless, we make both roadways available to drivers along the entire section, each with two lanes, with traffic restrictions at three junctions. We plan to finish work on this section in late spring, announced a representative of GDDKiA.

The S7 route is a dual carriageway expressway with two lanes in each direction and a reserve for a possible third lane. The investment worth almost PLN 1.7 billion received PLN 534.8 million of EU funding under the Infrastructure and Environment Operational Program and PLN 420.7 million under the European Funds for Infrastructure, Climate and Environment Operational Program. Its contractor was the consortium of Gulermak (leader), Gűlermak Agir Sanayi Inşaat ve Taahhűt and Mosty Łódź.

Connection between S7 and S52 will be provided by a temporary slip road, which will serve traffic in both directions until the works within the Mistrzejowice junction are completed. The Łuczyce junction will be closed until mid-2025, and work is still ongoing. Until the Masterejowice junction is completed, the Raciborowice junction will operate to a limited extent – it will not be possible to enter it towards Krakow or exit it from the city side. The Mistrzejowice junction is to be fully completed in mid-2026 – it will be the largest road junction in Małopolska, after its construction the ring around Krakow will be closed.

In turn, the completion of 12.3 km of the Krakow Northern Bypass (POK) along the S52 expressway means that the capital of Małopolska will soon be the second city in Poland, after Łódź, surrounded by a full ring of expressways. So far, the Krakow bypass was 52.2 km long, after opening 12.3 km of POK it will be 64.5 km.

– We still need 5 km of the S7 between the Mistrzejowice junction and the Nowa Huta junction, which we plan to complete in mid-2026, Michna announced.

The POK, which opens on Monday, runs through the city along the northern borders of Krakow, as well as through the communes of Wielka Wieś and Zielonki. It has three lanes in each direction, but the speed limit will be 100 km/h. The road manager introduced them for safety reasons, because due to terrain restrictions, the route does not have parameters allowing for travel at higher speeds.

In tunnels, due to their nature (curves in the tunnel in Zielonki, proximity of the Batowice junction in the case of the facility in Dziekanowice), a speed limit of 80 km/h has been introduced. According to GDDKiA, S52 is the only bypass in Poland with two tunnels – Zielonki (653 m) and Dziekanowice (496 m).

The bypass will be connected to other roads through three new junctions: Zielonki (with Trasa Wolbromska), Węgrzce (with Al. 29 Listopada) and Batowice (with Os. Piastów and Batowice). 20 km of new access roads were also built, which will allow for convenient access from Krakow and surrounding towns. There were 27 bridges, viaducts and flyovers along the route with a total length of almost 1.9 km.

The cost of the work is approximately PLN 1.4 billion, of which PLN 789.6 million was EU funding from the Infrastructure and Environment Operational Program. The section was built by the consortium of Gulermak (leader), Gűlermak Agir Sanayi Inşaat ve Taahhűt and Mosty Łódź.