The Droga ekspresowa S16 ( Polish for "expressway S16") is a predominantly planned expressway in Poland . It is supposed to connect Olsztyn (expressways S7 / S51 ) via Ełk ( S61 ) with Knyszyn ( S19 ) and thus close a gap in the trunk road network. The road was added to the Polish expressway network with a government decision of October 13, 2015.
The S16 appeared for the first time in 2005 in the network plan of the GDDKiA, which is responsible for the preparation and planning of the expressways in Poland. A connection along the national road 16 between Grudziądz ( A1 ) via Ostróda and Olsztyn to Augustów was planned. A junction with the S8 expressway planned at Augustów was planned there . In total, this street would have counted about 335 km. Previously, such an expressway connection was only included in the Polish network maps from 1971, 1976 and 1985, but initially disappeared from the maps after the political change.
After 2005 the expressway disappeared again from the planned expressway network of the GDDKiA. In both 2007 and 2009 the link was not found in the decisions of the Council of Ministers of Poland. In several plans and tenders on the part of the Olsztyn area of the GDDKiA, the conversion and expansion of state road 16 into the main road for accelerated traffic (so-called class GP) was mentioned. The parameters agreed with those of an expressway, so that in the future it would be possible to change the class of the road to an expressway. On September 30, 2015, a draft of a government ordinance amending the ordinance on the motorway and expressway network was published for the first time, including the S16 expressway on the Olsztyn − Elk section and the Grudziadz − Ostróda section assigned to the S5 . This government ordinance was adopted on October 13, 2015.
