Expressway S61 or express road S61 is a major planned road in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

which is going to run from the Polish-

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

n border near Budzisko (connecting to Lithuanian A5) to

Ostrów Mazowiecka Ostrów Mazowiecka is a town in eastern Poland with 23,486 inhabitants (2004). Situated in the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Ostrołęka Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Ostrów Mazowiecka County. History Os ...

(joining express road S8). As of 2022, the part opened to traffic consists of three separate sections, forming the bypasses of

Suwałki Suwałki ( lt, Suvalkai; yi, סואוואַלק) is a city in northeastern Poland with a population of 69,206 (2021). It is the capital of Suwałki County and one of the most important centers of commerce in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. Suwałki ...

Augustów Augustów (; lt, Augustavas, formerly known in English as ''Augustovo'' or ''Augustowo'')" is a city in north-eastern Poland with 29,729 inhabitants as of December 2021. It lies on the Netta River and the Augustów Canal. It is situated in th ...

Szczuczyn Szczuczyn is a town in Grajewo County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland. As of 2004, it has a population of 3,602. History The town is located in the north-eastern outskirts of Mazovia, which has been part of Poland since the establishment of th ...

and

Stawiski Stawiski is a town in northeastern Poland, situated within Kolno County, in Podlaskie Voivodeship, approximately east of Kolno and west of the regional capital Białystok. Stawiski is the administrative seat of Gmina Stawiski. From 1946 to ...

. There is a complete expressway from Śniadowo to Łomża, from Łomża to Ełk and from Raczki to the Lithuanian border near Budzisko. The contracts for designing and building the rest of the road were signed in 2017-2022. The road will be a dual carriageway along its entire length, although the

Łomża Łomża (), in English known as Lomza, is a city in north-eastern Poland, approximately 150 kilometers (90 miles) to the north-east of Warsaw and west of Białystok. It is situated alongside the Narew river as part of the Podlaskie Voivodeship ...

bypass will be opened as a single-carriageway road at first, the second carriageway being due to open to traffic a year later. of the route are open to traffic as of 2022, with the remaining mostly due to open to traffic in 2023, while the delayed Łomża bypass will not be fully complete until 2025.

Existing sections

The first section forming the bypass of Stawiski (6.5 km long) was opened to traffic in December 2013 as a single carriageway road. The second section to open was part of the bypass of

, opened to traffic in November 2014. The extension of this section was the bypass of Suwałki opened in April 2019Via Baltica. Obwodnica Suwałk otwarta, Gazeta Wyborcza, 11 April 2019
(25 km in total). The third section (8 km) was the bypass of Szczuczyn opened in November 2015 as a single carriageway road. The second carriageway was opened in May 2020. The fourth section (17.1 km long) was the connection between Śniadowo - Łomża Południe interchanges, opened to traffic in July 2021 as a dual carriageway road. The fifth section (18 km long) was the connection between Szczuczyn and Stawiski, opened in July 2021 as a dual carriageway road. The sixth section (35 km long) was the connection between Stawiski and Kolno, opened in August 2021 as a dual carriageway road. The seventh section (20 km long) was the connection between Wysokie and Raczki, opened in December 2021 as a dual carriageway road. The eighth section (23 km long) was the connection between Szczuczyn and Ełk Południe, opened in September 2022 as a dual carriageway road. The ninth section (24 km long) was the connection between Suwałki and the Lithuanian border at Budzisko, opened in December 2022 as a dual carriageway road.

Route history

The expressway became part of the Poland's planned expressway network with the approval of the

Council of Ministers of Poland The Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Rada Ministrów Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej'') is the collective executive decision-making body of the Polish government. The cabinet consists of the Prime minister, also known as the Ch ...

of 20 October 2009.Dz.U. 2009 nr 187 poz. 1446
Polish government regulation on expressways network Before that, express road S8 was planned to continue from Białystok north to the Lithuanian border, serving as Via Baltica route. In 2009, S61 was introduced instead, while S8 was decided to end in Białystok. The change provides a shorter route for Via Baltica than originally planned, and the new course is viewed as a way to minimise its environmental impact on protected areas in northeastern Poland.Website of analysis project
conducted by Scott Wilson for the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure

Exit list

References

Sources

Announcement of giving decision describing environmental conditions
for building

beltway , Polish Directorate of Environmental Protection

External links

Ministry of Infrastructure of the Republic of PolandGeneral Directorate for National Roads and Highways of the Republic of Poland
{{Polish Expressways Expressways in Poland Proposed roads in Poland