Autostrada A18 is a short

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

in southwestern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

which runs from the Polish/

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border at

Olszyna Olszyna () is a town in Lubań County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its name means "alder wood" in Polish. It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Olszyna. A settlement dating back to the Middl ...

/ Forst-Bademeusel (connecting with the German Bundesautobahn 15) to the Polish

Autostrada A4 The Autostrada A4, or Autostrada Serenissima (" Serenissima motorway"), is an '' autostrada'' (Italian for "motorway") long in Italy located in the regions of Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia which connects Turin and Trieste ...

. The highway is long and is part of the

European route E36 European route E36 is a west to east intermediate-category European route connecting Berlin in Germany and Bolesławiec in Poland. Important towns served by the E36 include: *Germany **Berlin ** Lübben **Lübbenau **Cottbus **Forst (Lausitz) ...

and the Pan-European corridor IIIA from

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Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

. Since 2023, both carriageways are opened after reconstruction and signed as A18.

Construction

The 1930s (the southern carriageway)

The motorway had its beginning as a single-carriageway part of Reichsautobahn 9 (

- Breslau) built by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

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. However, only a single carriageway was 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 (later, in 2009, the section signed as A18 was shortened to 7 km, while the rest was re-signed as A4 when the connecting stretch of that motorway was opened). In 1995, a new stretch of the second carriageway was constructed on the section near the border crossing (7 km).

2004 – 2006 (the northern carriageway)

Between 2004 and 2006, the northern carriageway was constructed in the allocated space reserve and most of the overpasses and bridges were reconstructed. By June 2007, the road had two carriageways in use, but the older of the two (carrying eastbound traffic towards Wrocław) was in extremely poor shape, still using the surface made of concrete slabs laid in the 1930s. Due to bad road condition, the speed on that carriageway was limited to 70 km/h.Urwane koła, zgubiony na wertepach towar. Pseudoautostrada A18
wroclaw.gazeta.pl, February 26, 2014 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 (A18 passes through

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectiv ...

protected areas). On 15 July 2010, the environmental 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. 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.

2020 – 2023 (reconstruction of the 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 reconstruction started in 2020 and 2021. The 1930s carriageway got closed on the whole length and the traffic in both directions was moved onto the high quality northern carriageway. The reconstruction was finished in October 2023, and the full length was then officially designated as an Autostrada.

Exits

External links

Webpage for current upgrade contract - section 1

Webpage for current upgrade contract - section 2

Webpage for current upgrade contract - sections 3 and 4

Gallery 3Gallery 4

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:A18 Autostrada (Poland) Motorways in Poland Proposed roads in Poland