Red Tape Hot Box on the handicaps of the Polish transport system

Recently, I went to Belgium for a few days. This short trip to the heart of the European Union prompted me to reflect on the many differences between the West and Poland. The most apparent disproportion can be noticed in motor transport infrastructure. We all know what a big problem the lack of highways is in Poland, and how much it handicaps our transport system. For instance, it took me and my father six and half hours to get from Warsaw (via Poznań) to the German border. That's about 500 kilometers. However, I was shocked when we needed just over six hours to cross the whole of Germany, which is probably a distance of more than 700 kilometers. Traveling by car here in Poland and doing the same in Western Europe seems to be a completely different thing. Actually, one might get the impression that one is using a different means of communication. It's a shame that the capital of a soon to be member of the EU and one of that country's biggest and most important cities (Poznań) are connected by a one lane road and drivers have to deal with TIR trucks charging the opposite way when overtaking other vehicles. Oh, I'm sorry, in fact, there is a 50 kilometer stretch of highway on the way - that's 50 kilometers out of about 300...

Poland could make a fortune, if only it had a decent highway system. All transport going from the West to the East and vice versa has to go through this country. A highway connecting the Polish-German border with any of our eastern borders would probably be a real gold mine. But it seems to me that Poland is the only country in the region that can't find funds for highways. The Czechs can, so can the Slovenians and Hungarians and even poorer Slovakia is managing to connect its major cities with freeways. Maybe if our governments hadn't spent billions of dollars on keeping old and unprofitable factories, plants and mines alive, we would probably be able to travel from Warsaw to Poznań in less than four hours.