Historical events, such as the systemic transformation in Poland, Poland’s EU membership, and the impact of global factors, have changed the significance of transport infrastructure in Poland. It turned out that the transport infrastructure is not adapted to the new socio-economic conditions [Rydzkowski, Wojewódzka-Król 2009], and is overloaded and obsolete. Its current state means that it constitutes a barrier to the development of the country and individual regions [Wojewódzka 2010]. This situation necessitates the expansion and modernization of transport infrastructure, which is one of the fundamental challenges for development policy in Poland [MRR 2009], especially in the context of creating poles of economic growth [Rakowska, Wojewódzka-Wiewiórska 2010] by improving their accessibility.The road network in Poland is characterized by an insufficient length of motorways and expressways, which limits the transport accessibility of individual parts of the country, reduces their competitiveness, and negatively affects the development of the entire country.
Tab. 1. Motorways in Poland (km).
Source: own elaboration based on the Local Data Bank of the Central Statistical Office (GUS).
Road infrastructure
In 2009, the length of motorways was 849.4 km, which is an increase compared to 2004 of less than 54% (Table 1). The weakness of road infrastructure in Poland lies in the insufficient network of connections between the south and the north of the country, the lack of a road network allowing for efficient movement within cities and their surroundings, and the low quality of connections between provincial cities.
Tab. 2. Expressways in Poland (km)
The total length of public roads in the country in 2009 was 384,100 km, including the total length of public roads with a hard surface in Poland in 2009, which was 268,400 km, representing an increase compared to 2004 of 16,400 km, or 6.5%. Similarly, the length of roads with an improved hard surface in that year was 245,100 km. An increase of 20,900 km, or 9.3%, was recorded compared to 2004. The road network is characterized by a relatively high density of hard-surface roads, proportional to the population. The drawback is the poor quality of this type of road.
In the Świętokrzyskie and Warmian-Masurian voivodeships, there are no motorways (until 2008, there were as many as 9 such voivodeships). Among those mentioned are all voivodeships of Eastern Poland. (…)
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Source: Logistyka Magazine 6/2011