The autostrada A4 in Poland is a long east–west motorway that runs through southern Poland, along the north side the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains, from the Polish-German border at Zgorzelec-Görlitz, through Wrocław, Opole, Gliwice, Katowice, Kraków, Tarnów and Rzeszów, to the Polish-Ukrainian border at Korczowa-Krakovets. It is a part of European route E40. The motorway between Wrocław and Kraków was constructed in years 1976 – 2005. Most of this part is tolled, with fees being collected in toll booths across the motorway. The section from the German border to Wrocław was constructed in years 2002 – 2009, in large part as a repavement of the old concrete motorway constructed in years 1933 – 1937. The repaved parts are substandard due to lack of emergency lanes and the speed limit is decreased to 110 km/h. The motorway from Kraków to the Ukrainian border was constructed in years 2010 – 2016, making A4 the first Polish complete border-to-border highway connection.
History of construction
Some western stretches of this motorway were initially built as a Reichsautobahn by Nazi Germany in the 1930s under her pre-war borders. After World War II and the takeover of Poland by the communist regime, with new borders, the existing roads received minimal maintenance and upgrades and became notorious for their poor quality, a phenomenon similar to that observed in East Germany. In effect, the original road served in a virtually unchanged state throughout the whole communist period and the first years afterwards. A reconstruction conducted in years 2002 – 2006 removed the old concrete road surface, but some aspects of the 1930s standards of construction remain on the stretch from Krzyżowa to Wrocław; for example, the aforementioned section does not have emergency lanes, a feature that is to be added in the future. The section between Katowice and Kraków was constructed in years 1976 – 1996, and the section between Wrocław and Katowice in 1996 – 2005. In 2006 – 2009, the section from the German border to the junction with A18 motorway was constructed, which completed a continuous connection from Germany to Kraków. Also completed in 2009 was the first portion of the motorway east of Kraków. The original plan was to finish the rest of the motorway by about 2013, but because of the UEFA decision to host the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship in Poland and Ukraine and the resulting need to improve the road infrastructure connecting the two countries, the date for opening the motorway to traffic was moved up to June 2012. This ambitious target was not attained after multiple delays, some caused by the floods of 2010. In July 2016, the last missing 41 km between Rzeszów and Jarosław were completed. This meant the entire length of the A4 from the German border to the Ukrainian border was completed, making the A4 the first complete major motorway in Poland and the first completed continuous border-to-border highway connection.
