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, tramways, urban railway and Metro.
Although many streets were widened, and new ones were created, during the rebuilding of Warsaw in the 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 the 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, travelers typically must pass through the center of town for cross-town itineraries. Additionally, there are few parking places in the city center and street works are being carried out throughout the day. One line of the Warsaw Metro is complete and the second line consisting of 13 stations has also been completed. Also, a beltway has been built on the northside of the city and the southern beltway is under construction - while no highways are yet to be built on the east side of the city. The city’s government also has plans to limit the car traffic in the city center including “Park and ride” car parks and a zone of toll parking). Public transport in Warsaw is ubiquitous, serving the city with buses, tramways, urban railway and Metro.
Roads and highways
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 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 was completed and put in use in 2021.
There are of streets in Warsaw. The supervising body is the City Roads Authority (ZDM – Zarząd Dróg Miejskich).
The National Roads () running through Warsaw: / – Świecko (German-Polish border)-Poznań-Warsaw-Terespol (Belarus-Polish border) / – Gdańsk-Warsaw-Krakow-Chyżne (Slovak-Polish border) / – Budziska (Polish-Lithuanian border)-Białystok-Warsaw-Wrocław-Kudowa Zdrój (Czech-Polish border) / – Warsaw-Lublin-Hrebenne (Polish-Ukrainian border) – Warsaw-Łomża-Augustów – Warsaw-Sandomierz-Krakow-Katowice
Bridges
The first bridge existed in Warsaw between 1576 and 1603: King Sigismund II Augustus built it near the north part of the city wall. The bridge was destroyed in 1603 by an ice floe. Nowadays, the Bridge street (ulica Mostowa) exists on this place. Between 1775 and 1794 the next bridge existed south of the Royal Castle. It was pulled down by insurgents of the Kościuszko Uprising to prevent the Russian troops from getting to Warsaw.
In 1864, Stanisław Kierbedź built the first iron road bridge on stone supports. The bridge was then named Most Kierbedzia (Kierbedź Bridge) and was one of the most modern bridges in Europe of that time. In 1915, the retreating Russian army demolished it, then Poles rebuilt it and in 1944 it was demolished again by Germans. In 1949, on the same supports, a completely new bridge was built, which was named Śląsko-Dąbrowski – to commemorate the workers' crews from Silesia.
In 1914, the Poniatowski Bridge was built. Its name derives not from the King Stanisław August Poniatowski’s name, but from the name of his nephew – Prince Józef Antoni Poniatowski who was the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Duchy of Warsaw and fought at Napoleon Bonaparte’s side. The bridge was also pulled down by Russians in 1915. The Poles rebuilt it only in 1926, then in 1944 Germans demolished it again and one year later it was rebuilt once more.