Transport in Warsaw

Warsaw has seen major infrastructural changes over the past few years amidst increased foreign investment and economic growth. The city has a much improved infrastructure with new roads, flyovers, bridges, etc. Public transport in Warsaw is ubiquitous, serving the city with buses, trams, and metro.

Although many streets were widened, and new ones created, during rebuilding of Warsaw in 1950s, the city is currently plagued with traffic problems. The main reason is that in the Communist times, the traffic was small due to the low number of private cars – not only because of prices of cars, but also because of a hard to obtain special coupon necessary to buy a car. Traffic engineers did not foresee the drastically large increase in the number of cars: in 2005, there were 800,000 cars in Warsaw. An additional problem was the lack of public transport as well as a beltway around the city. Mayor Stefan Starzyński had planned both prior to World War II, but never lived to see those plans realized. Today, travellers typically must pass through the centre of town for cross-town itineraries. Additionally, there are few parking places in the city centre and street works are being carried out throughout the day. One line of the Warsaw Metro is complete and the central portion of the second line consisting of 6 stations has also been completed. Work on the second phase of the second line should begin by next year with an additional 3 stations at either end. Also a beltway is being built on the northside of the city. The city’s government also has plans to limit the car traffic in the city centre including “Park and ride” car parks and a zone of toll parking). Public transport in Warsaw is ubiquitous, serving the city with buses, tramways, and Metro.

Warsaw lacks a good circular road system and most traffic goes directly through the city center. Currently two circular roads are under consideration. The first (called OEW, or Obwodnica Etapowa Warszawy) is planned to run approximately 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) from the city centre through the city streets and across two new bridges. The other is planned to become a part of both the A-2 motorway (itself a part of the European route E30 from Cork to Moscow) and the S-7 (Gdańsk–Kraków) express road, and will run through a tunnel under the southern area of Ursynów. It is to be completed between 2010 and 2012.

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Wikipedia