The Tricity Ring Road (

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

: ''Obwodnica trójmiejska'', ''Obwodnica Trójmiasta'', ''Trasa Obwodowa Trójmiasta'') is a

ring road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

in Poland bypassing the

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

formed by the cities of

Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...

Sopot Sopot (; or ) is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomerania Province and has the City with powiat ri ...

and

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

commonly known as the Tricity. The beltway runs north to south from

Pruszcz Gdański Pruszcz Gdański (; former ; ; ) is a town in Pomerania, northern Poland with 26,834 inhabitants (2010). Pruszcz Gdański is an industrial town neighbouring Gdańsk, part of the Tricity, Poland, Tricity urban agglomeration, agglomeration. The Obwo ...

and is long. It forms a part of the S6 expressway which will eventually run from

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

. It is also part of the

European route E28 European route E28 is a west–east intermediate road in the international E-road network. Beginning at the Bundesautobahn 10 (''Berliner Ring'') near Berlin, Germany, it runs west–east for a length of to Minsk, Belarus. The section betwee ...

History

Construction started in the 1970s and the first section was opened for use in 1977. Due to a lack of funds during the 1980s, construction was delayed many times. The fall of communism in 1990 also slowed down construction. Major sections of the beltway were completed in 2001 with the last two major junctions finished in 2008. The various stages were constructed in the following years: *1973–1977: northbound lanes Gdynia – Pruszcz Gdański *1978–1984: southbound lanes Gdynia – Straszyn *1987–1989: Kowale Junction *1994–1996: Wysoka Junction *2000–2001: southbound lanes Straszyn – Juszkowo *2002–2003: road maintenance and resurfacing *2006–2007: connection to the A1 motorway *2006–2008: junction with Trasa Kwiatkowskiego

Transport infrastructure

The beltway is an important piece of infrastructure in the

Pomeranian Voivodeship Pomeranian Voivodeship ( ; ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship, or province, in northwestern Poland. The provincial capital is Gdańsk. The voivodeship was established on January 1, 1999, out of the former voivodeships of Gdańsk Voivo ...

easing congestion through the center of the Tricity area and diverting transit traffic. The beltway also connects the

Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (, formerly , ) is an international airport located northwest of Gdańsk, Poland, not far from the city centres of the Tricity metropolitan area: Gdańsk (), Sopot () and Gdynia (). Since 2004, the airport has bee ...

with the rest of the Voivodeship. The Tricity Ring Road was one of the first orbital, beltway and ring roads that bypass major cities in Poland.

Current development

A junction connecting the south end of the Tricity Beltway to the A1 motorway has been completed by 22 December 2007 enabling travel first up to

Grudziądz Grudziądz (, ) is a city in northern Poland, with 92,552 inhabitants (2021). Located on the Vistula River, it lies within the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and is the fourth-largest city in its province. Grudziądz is one of the oldest citie ...

and, as the A1 was completed, through

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

and

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

, to the Czech border in the south. On 12 June 2008, Trasa im. Eugeniusza Kwiatkowskiego was completed and finally connected the

Port of Gdynia Port of Gdynia is a Polish seaport located on the western shore of Gdańsk Bay, Baltic Sea, in Gdynia. Founded in 1926, in 2008 it ranked second in intermodal container An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, or a frei ...

to the beltway, bypassing the local city streets. This reduced truck traffic in residential areas greatly since all heavy trucks heading towards the port used National road 6, which at the time went through the center of the city. In 2012 a 18 km stretch of the S7 expressway was opened in Gdańsk, extending from the S6 eastward, forming the southern bypass of Gdańsk. A new beltway called the ''Tricity Metropolitan Ring Road'' is being planned further out, after multiple delays scheduled for 2025, and the route of the S6 expressway is to be moved there once it is opened. In 2022 the Trasa Kaszubska was opened as the first segment of the new beltway and the S6 along with the E28 were rerouted over it while the old course became part of S7.

External links

Satellite pictures of the Gdańsk Matarnia junction using maps.google.comWebsite about new roads in Pomeranian Voivodship ''(in Polish)''GDDKIA Website ''(in Polish and English)''Traffic Cameras from the beltway as well as other major roads in Poland ''(in Polish)''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obwodnica Trojmiejska Roads in Poland Buildings and structures in Pomeranian Voivodeship