Expressway S61 (Poland)

Expressway S61 or express road S61 is a Polish highway which is going to run from Ostrów Mazowiecka (separating from express road S8) to the Polish-Lithuanian border near Budzisko (continuing as the Lithuanian A5 highway).

As of June 2024, 200 km of the route are open to traffic. The remaining 13 km are planned to be opened (partially as single-carriageway) in the second half of 2024 and finished (as dual-carriageway) in mid-2025.

The road is part of the strategically important Via Baltica, the segment from Tallinn to Warsaw of the European route E67 connecting the Baltic States with the rest of Europe through the exposed Suwałki corridor. Its north-eastern end is also part of the planned Via Carpathia. Across the Lithuanian border the preexisting A5 highway to Kaunas is being upgraded into a divided highway with grade-separated junctions, bringing it to the same standard as the S61 expressway.

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 carriageway was opened in August 2021.

The second section to open was part of the bypass of Augustów (12 km), opened to traffic in November 2014 as a dual carriageway road.

The third section was the bypass of Szczuczyn (8 km) opened in November 2015 as a single carriageway road. The second carriageway was opened in May 2020.

The fourth section was the bypass of Suwałki (13 km), opened in April 2019 as a dual carriageway road.

The contracts for designing and building the expressway signed in 2017 and 2018 assumed the completion of the whole road by the end of 2021, but parts of it got significantly delayed.

The fifth section (17 km long) was the connection between Śniadowo and Łomża (excluding the bypass of Łomża), opened to traffic in July 2021 as a dual carriageway road.

The sixth section (53 km long) was the connection between Szczuczyn and Kolno, opened in July and August 2021 as a dual carriageway road (which also included reconstruction of the existing bypass of Stawiski and addition of the second carriageway).

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.

The tenth section (24 km long) was the connection between Ełk Południe and Wysokie opened in August 2023 as a dual carriageway road, completing the segment of the road running through the Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship.

The eleventh section, a 19,46 km long segment from Ostrów Mazowiecka Północ with a junction with the S8 expressway to Śniadowo in the Masovian Voivodeship, opened in October 2023.

Under construction
One section of the road that remains under construction is a 12,92 km segment from Łomża Zachód to Kolno in the Podlaskie Voivodeship which will form the bypass of Łomża. The first carriageway is planned to open to traffic in mid 2024, while the second carriageway is planned to be finished in May 2025.

Route history
The expressway became part of the Poland's planned expressway network with the approval of the Council of Ministers of Poland of 20 October 2009. 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 minimize its environmental impact on protected areas of the wetlands of the Rospuda river valley and the Augustów Primeval Forest in northeastern Poland.