Expressway S5 (Poland)


Expressway S5 or express road S5 is a limited-access road in Poland which has been planned to run along the route Ostróda – Grudziądz – Bydgoszcz – Poznań – Wrocław. As of December 2019, about of the road has been completed; a section shares the route with A2 motorway, out of the total planned length of about.
The construction of the road received higher priority after Poland was selected as one of the hosts of the Euro 2012 championships, since it would serve as a direct connection between three of the four Polish cities hosting matches: Poznań, Wrocław and Gdańsk. However, plans to finish the whole road before the championships were proven too optimistic and only a section between the A2 motorway and Gniezno was completed by that time. The section was opened on 4 June 2012. This part of the S5 expressway serves as the eastern bypass of Poznań.
Other existing parts of the road are the bypass of Świecie, the bypass of Szubin and the bypass of Śmigiel to Ostróda.
In November 2015, contracts were signed for the Gniezno-Grudziadz section, a total of about 150 km. In May 2017, the continuation of the S5 from the end of the eastern bypass of Poznań to just north of Gniezno opened to traffic, thus diverting most transit traffic away from Gniezno itself