The A4 will undergo a revolution. The end of fees for drivers?

Minister of Infrastructure Dariusz Klimczak signed three annexes to the investment program regarding the expansion of the A4 motorway. The project includes adding a third and fourth lane on the section from the Balice I junction in Małopolska to the border of the Silesian and Opole voivodeships. In total, it covers 120 km of one of the most important routes in the country. The value of the entire program is approximately PLN 10 billion.

The signed documents concern three sections of the route: from the border of the Opole Voivodeship to the Brzęczkowice junction, further to the Byczyna junction and from Byczyna to Balice. As the head of the Ministry of Infrastructure emphasized during a briefing in Krakow, the expansion of the A4 is not a choice, but a necessity. On some sections, the traffic intensity exceeds 100,000. vehicles per day.

Third and fourth lanes, new MOPs and hundreds of facilities

The investment will not be limited only to widening the road. The plans include the construction of new passenger service areas and the reconstruction and construction of several hundred engineering structures, including junctions, exits and viaducts. The new infrastructure is to use renewable energy sources and energy storage, so that the route will be energy autonomous.

According to the announcement, it is to be one of the most modern and safest roads in Poland, connecting key regions of the country and fulfilling an important international function.

No more Kraków-Katowice goals

One of the elements of the changes will be the dismantling of toll collection points on the Kraków-Katowice section. The Ministry of Infrastructure announced that from March 16, 2027, the A4 motorway in this section will be free for passenger cars and motorcycles. The section is to be managed by the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways because the contract with the concessionaire will not be extended.

During the speech, it was emphasized that the current fees are high and the decision to change the manager is to end the current model of operation of this part of the route.

Additional investments in Małopolska

The Ministry of Infrastructure also allocated PLN 2.5 billion for the modernization of the oldest part of the Southern Bypass of Krakow along the A4 – from the Balice junction to the exit to national road No. 7. It is planned to widen the road with additional lanes, build a new junction near the Kraków Airport and a new bridge over the Vistula.

During the briefing, it was pointed out that road investments in Małopolska combine issues of infrastructure and safety. The expansion of the A4 is to become one of the largest infrastructure projects in the region, and the route itself will become a key communication corridor in southern Poland.