Autostrada A18 is a short, planned motorway in southwestern Poland which is to run from the Polish/German border at Olszyna/Forst-Bademeusel to the PolishAutostrada A4. The highway is part of the European route E36 and the Pan-European corridor IIIA from Berlin to Wrocław. After completion, the A18 should be long. The stretch currently opened and signed as A18 from Golnice to the A4 is long. The remaining currently exists as a dual-carriageway road not up to motorway standards and not officially signed as such: the west-bound carriageway is of a motorway quality, while the east-bound carriageway is in a very bad shape with most of its surface still being the concrete slabs laid in the 1930s. Its full modernization to motorway standard along the entire length is planned for years 2020 – 2023.
Construction
The 1930s (southern carriageway)
The motorway had its beginning as a single-carriageway part of Reichsautobahn 9 built by Nazi Germany in the 1930s, completed between 1936 and 1938. This route had all the features of an autobahn, built according to the standards of the time, including all the exits, viaducts and bridges, except that only a single carriageway was actually constructed along most of its length and space was left for constructing the second carriageway at a later time. The road existed in this state until the early 1990s, when the first at its eastern end was rebuilt with new concrete carriageways and first signed A18. In 1995, the second carriageway was constructed on the 7 km stretch at the western end.
2004 – 2006 (northern carriageway)
Between 2004 and 2006, the missing, northern carriageway was completed on its whole length and most of the overpasses and bridges were reconstructed. By June 2007, the road had two carriageways in use. However, the older of the two is in a very poor shape, as it still has a surface made of concrete slabs laid in the 1930s. Due to poor road conditions, the speed on that carriageway is limited to 70 km/h. Reconstruction of the southern carriageway was originally intended to proceed shortly afterwards, but did not start due to delays caused, in part, by changes in the motorway project required by new environmental protection rules. On 15 July 2010, the environmental impact decision for the revised project was issued, which would have allowed for the contract bidding procedure to be completed and for construction to start in 2011. However in December 2010, the Polish government announced significant cutbacks to its funding for road construction, which delayed the project for some years. In 2014, when the National Program of Road Construction for 2014 – 2023 was created, the government did not envisage it starting in the near future.
2018 – present (reconstruction of southern carriageway)
In 2018, the ministry amended the National Program of Road Construction for 2014 – 2023 by including reconstruction of A18 on the primary list. The whole stretch is planned to be reconstructed to modern standards by 2023, and it will then be officially designated as an Autostrada in its entirety.
