Classes and categories of public roads in Poland

In Poland, public roads are classified into two kinds of road hierarchies: road classes (according to technical and functional parameters) and road categories (according to the function in the road network).

The March 2, 1999 Decree of the Ministry of Transport and Maritime Economy (now Ministry of Infrastructure) on technical conditions and operational requirements for public roads,^[1] introduced the following road classes and their hierarchy, starting from the road type with the highest parameters:

• motorway (Polish: autostrada) (marked with the symbol A)
• expressway (Polish: droga ekspresowa) (marked with the symbol S), a limited-access road
• main road of accelerated traffic [pl] or class GP road (Polish: droga główna ruchu przyspieszonego, droga klasy GP), informally: droga szybkiego ruchu, "fast traffic road" (marked with the symbol GP)
• main road [pl] (Polish: droga główna) (marked with the symbol G)
• collector road (Polish: droga zbiorcza) (marked with the symbol Z)
• local road (Polish: droga lokalna) (marked with the symbol L)
• local access road (Polish: droga dojazdowa) (denoted by the symbol D)

The classification of roads into categories according to their functions was introduced by the March 21, 1985 act "On Public Roads" of the Sejm.^[2] The allowable road classes for particular categories were specified in the March 2, 1999 Decree.^[1]

• National roads - classes A, S, GP
• Voivodeship roads - classes GP or G
• Powiat roads (pl:Droga powiatowa) - classes GP, G, Z
• Gmina roads (pl:Droga gminna) - classes GP, G, Z, L, D

• Roads and expressways in Poland
• Transport in Poland § Road transport