Expressway S3 (Poland)

Expressway S3 or express road S3 (in Polish droga ekspresowa S3) is major road in Poland which is planned to run from Świnoujście on the Baltic Sea through Szczecin, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Zielona Góra and Legnica, to the border with the Czech Republic, where it will connect to the D11 motorway. The total planned length is 480.7 km (298.7 mi), of which 301.4 km (187.3 mi) is open to traffic(of which 62.8 km one carriageway) and 112.8 km (70.1 mi) is under construction and 62.7 km upgraded to 2-laned expressway (as of November 2015).

Map of S3, Poland

Motorway A3 was planned to be built along this route before, but the decision was made to build a lower standard "express road" as the traffic density was judged too low to justify an autostrada. One legacy of this planning is that for some of its route S3 is going to be built on a completely new alignment some distance away from the parallel DK3 road it is to replace. This is in contrast to most "express roads" in Poland which are built by upgrading existing roads.

The most recent large extension of S3 is the 81.6 km section south of Szczecin to Gorzów Wlkp. This section has been built on a new alignment, outside of towns, and is essentially of motorway standard. The entire stretch of the S3 between Międzyrzecz and Sulechów (43 km) is now completed and fully open to traffic.

The S3 expressway between Międzyrzecz and the bypass of Gorzów Wlkp. (37.6 km) was completed in May 2014.

In August 2013 Polish General Directorate for National Roads and Highways has announced tenders for building two stretches of the expressway between Nowa Sól in Lubusz Voivodeship and Legnica in Lower Silesian Voivodeship (to junction with A4) and for building second stretches of Gorzów Wielkopolski bypass and in the part of the expressway between Sulechów and Nowa Sól. They will be all done in 2017-2018 by schedule.

Most of the section between A4 at Legnica and the Czech border will not start construction before 2017. Some of the money allocated for it has been re-purposed to build the S2 expressway in Warsaw. The government officials explained this decision by the fact that the connecting motorway on the Czech side will not be built before 2018. Later the decision was partially reversed, and now there is a plan to construct a 35.8 km section between Legnica and Bolków in 2015-2018 timeframe. The contract was signed in October 2015, and the completion date is expected by 2019. The part to Lubawka from border is not even subject to tender yet.