The A8 motorway ( pl, Autostradowa Obwodnica Wrocławia, ''abbreviated AOW'') or Wrocław Motorway Bypass or Autostrada A8 is a motorway bypass of the city of

Wrocław Wrocław (; , . german: Breslau, , also known by other names) is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, roughly ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

. The motorway includes the high Rędziński Bridge over the

Oder The Oder ( , ; Czech language, Czech, Lower Sorbian language, Lower Sorbian and ; ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river in total length and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and Warta. The Oder ri ...

river. Outside of Wrocław, A8 continues in an expressway standard as Expressway S8. The motorway opened to traffic on 31 August 2011. It is not planned to be subject to tolling.

Route description

Route history

Initial plans had the A8 motorway ran the entire route between

and

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

, with a southern portion of the road continuing towards the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

to provide access to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. In 2000, the motorway was truncated to its current length bypassing the western and northern portions of Wroclaw, while the rest of the route was decided to be completed in an expressway standard as Expressway S8. During the campaign for the 2007 parliamentary elections, the

Civic Platform Civic Platform ( pl, Platforma Obywatelska, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a political party in Poland. It is currently led by Donald Tusk. It w ...

party pledged to upgrade the connection to motorway standard, thus extending the A8 motorway. However, after forming a government following its victory, the party abandoned the idea, explaining that the required changes in planning would unacceptably delay the construction by many years. On 1 September 2011, the Ministry of Infrastructure published draft regulation on the motorway's tolling. According to the ministry, the A8 motorway will not be subject to tolling for motorists, however the entire route of the motorway is subject to electronic toll collection system mandatory for vehicles heavier then 3.5

tons Tons can refer to: * Tons River, a major river in India * Tamsa River, locally called Tons in its lower parts (Allahabad district, Uttar pradesh, India). * the plural of ton, a unit of mass, force, volume, energy or power :* short ton, 2,000 poun ...

, known as e-TOLL.

Images

File:Most-Redzinski-zza-kierownicy.jpg, Rędziński Bridge File:MostRedzinski07.JPG, Rędziński Bridge File:Most-Redzinski-z-mostu-Milenijnego.jpg, Rędziński Bridge File:New bridge (Rędziński).jpg, Rędziński Bridge File:Wrocław, Autostradowa obwodnica Wrocławia A8 (AOW) - fotopolska.eu (125886).jpg File:Wrocław, Autostradowa obwodnica Wrocławia A8 (AOW) - fotopolska.eu (150432).jpg File:Wrocław, Autostradowa obwodnica Wrocławia A8 (AOW) - fotopolska.eu (239268).jpg, Wrocław Stadion junction File:Wrocław, Autostradowa obwodnica Wrocławia A8 (AOW) - fotopolska.eu (239269).jpg, 500 m before Wrocław Lotnisko junction File:Wrocław, Autostradowa obwodnica Wrocławia A8 (AOW) - fotopolska.eu (239270).jpg, 3300 m before Wrocław Zachód junction File:Wrocław, Autostradowa obwodnica Wrocławia A8 (AOW) - fotopolska.eu (239278).jpg, Wrocław Zachód junction

References

External links

Official page of the project

Route map on the official project page
(low resolution)
Map of the motorway (high resolution, pdf format)
{{Polish highways Motorways in Poland Proposed roads in Poland

Route description

Route history

Images

See also

References

External links