Expressway S3 (Poland)

Autostrada A3
Route information
Part of E65
Time period	1993–2001 (planned only)
Major junctions
From	Szczecin
	separation from A6 south of Szczecin A2 near Jordanowo A4 near Legnica
To	D11 border with Czech Republic
Location
Regions	West Pomeranian Voivodeship Lubusz Voivodeship Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Major cities	Szczecin, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Zielona Góra, Legnica
Highway system
National roads in Poland

The autostrada A3 was a planned motorway from 1993[4][5] to 2001[6] that was supposed to be built in western Poland. It was planned to begin in Szczecin, link Zielona Góra, Bolków and end in Lubawka on Polish-Czech border.

Some road maps published in 1990s had an approximate route of the motorway, which in some places was different than planned nowadays route S3, most notably the autostrada was supposed to form north-eastern bypass of Legnica[7] while S3 was constructed as its western bypass.

One legacy of the road having been planned as an autostrada is that it was being built on a completely new alignment some distance away from the parallel DK3 road from the beginning. This is akin to how most expressways in Poland are constructed nowadays, but in contrast to the standards of the 2000s when most of the expressways were constructed by upgrading existing roads.

One section of S3 east of Szczecin (19 km) was constructed in the 1970s in an expressway standard of those times (e.g. some one-level interchanges). As of 2019, this section is under reconstruction to meet contemporary standards.

S3 south of Szczecin overlaps with A6 motorway (see History of construction).

A single carriageway was constructed in years 1985 – 1995 on the section Sulechów – Zielona Góra (27 km). Several short sections (bypasses of towns) were constructed in years 2001 – 2008. The first large section of S3 was the 82.0 km from Szczecin to Gorzów Wlkp. This stretch was opened to traffic in 2010.[8] The stretch between Gorzów Wlkp. and Sulechów (80.6 km) was completed in 2013 / 2014.

In August 2013 tenders for the expressway between Nowa Sól and Legnica (junction with A4)[9] were announced, as well as for adding second carriageway on the remaining stretches (Sulechów – Nowa Sól and Gorzów Wlkp. bypass).[10] They were completed in 2017 / 2018.

Signing the contracts for construction of all four stretches between A4 at Legnica and the Czech border was planned for 2014, however in 2013 it was announced that the section will not enter construction before 2017. As the reason, the officials cited delays in preparations in the Czech Republic, which meant that the connecting motorway on the Czech side of the border might enter into construction in 2018 at the earliest[11][12] (currently, it is expected that the section will enter into construction in 2024/2025 rather than 2018[13]). Some of the money allocated for it has been re-purposed to build the S2 expressway in Warsaw.

Later the decision was partially reversed, and in 2014 two tenders were opened for the section between Legnica and Bolków. This part (35.8 km) was constructed in years 2015 – 2018.[14]

Two remaining contracts for the section from Bolków to the Czech border were signed in October 2018, with the completion dates of November 2021 and June 2023.[15]