Expressway S61 or express road S61 is a Polish highway running from Ostrów Mazowiecka (separating from express road S8) to the Polish-Lithuanian border near Budzisko (continuing as the Lithuanian A5 highway).
 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Droga ekspresowa S61 | ||||
 | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Length | 200 km (120 mi) 213.5 km (133 mi) total planned length [1] | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| From |  S 8 near Ostrów Mazowiecka | |||
| To |  A 5 Budzisko, Polish-Lithuanian border | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | Poland | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
Since September 2024, the whole route is open to traffic. On the 13 km (8.1 mi) long section serving as the bypass of Łomża, only the first carriageway is opened (serving bi-directional traffic with 1 lane per direction), while the second carriageway is to be finished in mid-2025.
The road is part of the strategically important Via Baltica, the segment from Tallinn to Warsaw of the European route E67 connecting the Baltic States with the rest of Europe through the exposed Suwałki corridor. Its north-eastern end is also part of the planned Via Carpathia. Across the Lithuanian border the preexisting A5 highway to Kaunas is being upgraded into a divided highway with grade-separated junctions, bringing it to the same standard as the S61 expressway.
Existing sections
editThe first section forming the bypass of Stawiski (6.5 km long) was opened to traffic in December 2013 as a single carriageway road. The second carriageway was opened in August 2021.[2]
The second section to open was part of the bypass of Augustów (12 km), opened to traffic in November 2014 as a dual carriageway road.
The third section was the bypass of Szczuczyn (8 km) opened in November 2015 as a single carriageway road. The second carriageway was opened in May 2020.[3]
The fourth section was the bypass of Suwałki (13 km), opened in April 2019 as a dual carriageway road.[4]
The contracts for designing and building the expressway signed in 2017 and 2018 assumed the completion of the whole road by the end of 2021,[5] but parts of it got significantly delayed.
The fifth section (17 km long) was the connection between Śniadowo and Łomża (excluding the bypass of Łomża), opened to traffic in July 2021 as a dual carriageway road.
The sixth section (53 km long) was the connection between Szczuczyn and Kolno, opened in July and August 2021 as a dual carriageway road (which also included reconstruction of the existing bypass of Stawiski and addition of the second carriageway).
The seventh section (20 km long) was the connection between Wysokie and Raczki, opened in December 2021 as a dual carriageway road.
The eighth section (23 km long) was the connection between Szczuczyn and Ełk Południe, opened in September 2022 as a dual carriageway road.
The ninth section (24 km long) was the connection between Suwałki and the Lithuanian border at Budzisko, opened in December 2022 as a dual carriageway road.
The tenth section (24 km long) was the connection between Ełk Południe and Wysokie opened in August 2023 as a dual carriageway road,[6] completing the segment of the road running through the Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship.
The eleventh section, a 19,46 km long segment from Ostrów Mazowiecka Północ with a junction with the S8 expressway to Śniadowo in the Masovian Voivodeship, opened in October 2023.[7]
Under construction
editThe 2nd carriageway of the road remains under construction on a 12,92 km segment from Łomża Zachód to Kolno in the Podlaskie Voivodeship, which forms the bypass of Łomża. The first carriageway was opened on 30 September 2024,[8] while the second carriageway is planned to be finished in May 2025.[9]
Route history
editThe expressway became part of the Poland's planned expressway network with the approval of the Council of Ministers of Poland of 20 October 2009.[10] Before that, express road S8 was planned to continue from Białystok north to the Lithuanian border, serving as Via Baltica route. In 2009, S61 was introduced instead, while S8 was decided to end in Białystok. The change provides a shorter route for Via Baltica than originally planned, and the new course is viewed as a way to minimize its environmental impact on protected areas of the wetlands of the Rospuda river valley and the Augustów Primeval Forest in northeastern Poland.[11]
Exit list
edit| Country | Voivodeship | Location | km | mi | Exit | Name | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poland | Mazovian Voivodeship | Gmina Ostrów Mazowiecka | — | Podborze | S 8( E67) – Warsaw/Białystok | Southwestern endpoint of motorway
Kilometrage starting point Western terminus of E67 continues towards Warsaw | ||
| — | Komorowo |  DW 627 – Ostrów Mazowiecka/Ostrołęka DW 677 – Łomża | ||||||
| Gmina Czerwin | 3 | Śniadowo | DW 677 – Ostrów Mazowiecka/Łomża | Exit number as part of "experimental signage" | ||||
| Podlaskie Voivodeship | Gmina Łomża | 4 | Łomża Południe |  DK 63 – Zambrów | South-west end of DK63 overlap
Exit number as part of "experimental signage" | |||
| — | Łomża Zachód |  DK 61 – Ostrołęka/Łomża | ||||||
| — | Nowogród |  DW 645 – Nowogród/Łomża | ||||||
| — | Łomża Północ |  DK 64 – Białystok | ||||||
| 8 | Kolno | DK 63 – Kolno | North end of DK63 overlap
Exit number as part of "experimental signage" | |||||
| Gmina Stawiski | 9 | Stawiski |  DW 647 – Stawiski/Kolno | Exit number as part of "experimental signage" | ||||
| Gmina Grabowo | 10 | Grabowo | Grabowo | Exit number as part of "experimental signage" | ||||
| Gmina Szczuczyn | 11 | Szczuczyn |  DK 58 – Szczuczyn/Pisz | Exit number as part of "experimental signage" | ||||
| 12 | Guty |  DW 665 – Grajewo/Augstów | ||||||
| Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship | Gmina Ełk | 13 | Ełk Południe |  DK 65 – Ełk/Białystok | Overlap with DK 65 starts | |||
| 14 | Ełk Wschód |  S 16 / DK 65 – Ełk/Olsztyn | Overlap with DK 65 ends, DK 16 starts | |||||
| Gmina Kalinowo | 15 | Kalinowo |  DK 16 – Ełk/Augustów | Overlap with DK 16 ends | ||||
| Podlaskie Voivodeship | Gmina Raczki | 16 | Raczki |  DK 8( E67) – Białystok/Raczki | ||||
| Gmina Suwałki | 17 | Suwałki Południe |  DW 655 – Suwałki/Olecko | Exit number as part of "experimental signage" | ||||
| Suwałki | 18 | Suwałki Zachód |  DW 653 – Suwałki/Olecko | Exit number as part of "experimental signage" | ||||
| — | Suwałki Północ |  DW 662 – Suwałki | ||||||
| Gmina Szypliszki | — | Szypliszki |  DW 651 – Gołdap/Sejny | |||||
| — | Lithuania–Poland border | A 5 | Border with Lithuania
road continues as the Lithuanian A5 | |||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
| ||||||||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Utrzymanie dróg ekspresowych i autostrad Droga ekspresowa S61 - 189+352 do 213+510
- ^ GDDKiA announcement
- ^ "Dwoma pasami obwodnicy Szczuczyna. Kolejny fragment S61 gotowy".
- ^ Via Baltica. Obwodnica Suwałk otwarta, Gazeta Wyborcza, 11 April 2019
- ^ "MI: Umowa na ostatni odcinek trasy Via Baltica podpisana! (Komunikat)".
- ^ "Via Baltica coraz bliżej ukończenia. S61 na Mazurach w komplecie". (in Polish)
- ^ S61 Podborze - Śniadowo
- ^ https://www.gov.pl/web/gddkia-bialystok/via-baltica-przejezdna-na-calej-dlugosci
- ^ S61 Łomża Zachód - Kolno
- ^ Dz.U. 2009 nr 187 poz. 1446 Polish government regulation on expressways network (in Polish)
- ^ Website of analysis project Archived 2009-02-26 at the Wayback Machine conducted by Scott Wilson for the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure (in Polish)
Sources
edit- Announcement of giving decision describing environmental conditions for building Augustów beltway (in Polish), Polish Directorate of Environmental Protection
External links
edit