Zakopianka under Krakow without a left turn at Świetlista. Detours, new roundabouts, and the completion of Krakow’s S7 ring road
You will learn from this article:
How to get to Świetlista Street during construction
What will be built in Libertów: a tunnel, two roundabouts, and three overpasses
Schedule for opening the Mistrzejowice interchange
Highest speed limit in the tunnels of Kraków’s Northern Ring Road
Libertów – how to get to Świetlista Street
The left turn from DK7 onto Świetlista Street was closed around noon on Monday, simultaneously with the start of road reconstruction. GDDKiA suggests three alternative routes: via Poronińska Street, Opatkowicka Street, or through the Gaju interchange. These changes also affect public transport passengers—the Libertów Świetlista and Libertów Góra Libertowska stops will be moved to new locations. Those who commute daily via the Zakopane road should plan for a few extra minutes, especially during peak hours.
Renovation – tunnel instead of intersection
The most significant change will be the elimination of the intersection at Zakopianka with Góra Libertowska and Świetlista streets. It will be replaced by a 52-meter tunnel under the national road, which will connect the eastern and western parts of Libertów. The local road network along the route will be expanded and improved, while municipal and district roads will be integrated into lanes parallel to DK7. This will allow residents to reach the tunnel and safely rejoin traffic heading toward Kraków or Myślenice. The goal of this investment is to increase the capacity of this section of national road No. 7.
Roundabouts – two new intersections on connecting roads
According to Kacper Michna, spokesperson for GDDKiA’s Kraków branch, the access road on the eastern side of the route will be widened, and the entrances to properties will be rebuilt. The first roundabout will be constructed at the intersection of Świetlista Street, the access road, and the new road that will provide access to DK7 at the site of the former intersection. The second roundabout will be located at the intersection of Jana Pawła II Street and the road leading to the tunnel.
As a result, direct right turns from Zakopianka onto Wesoła Street in Libertów (from the Kraków side) and onto Parkowa Street in Gaj (from the Myślenice side) will no longer be possible. It will no longer be feasible to exit these streets directly onto DK7 — traffic from them will be diverted to the access roads.
Pe pedestrians – three footbridges and sound barriers
The existing pedestrian crossings will be replaced by three footbridges: at the intersection being removed, on Góra Libertowska, and at the border between Libertów and Gaj. The work also includes sound barriers, a pedestrian-bicycle path along the connecting road between Jana Pawła II Street and Przylesie Street, and two crossings over the Olszynka stream under the access roads. The contractor is Przedsiębiorstwo Inżynieryjne IMB-Podbeskidzie, with completion scheduled for mid-2027.
Zakopianka – further investments on the route to Myślenice
The reconstruction in Libertów is part of a program to improve local traffic along DK7. GDDKiA plans to complete missing local roads, widen existing ones, and connect them into a continuous route from Kraków toward Myślenice — the contract for designing these solutions has already been signed. Meanwhile, road surface replacements are underway on three sections between Pcimie and Lubnie, and drivers in Myślenice already use a new, collision-free interchange.
Mistrzejowice Interchange – opening in phases
On the northern side of the city, GDDKiA is completing construction on the final Kraków section of S7. The first step was taken on October 9 at the Grębałów interchange: all entrances to the roundabout and almost all exits were opened, except for the exit leading to the road under renovation on Łowińskiego toward Kombinat. Drivers can also pass under the roundabout using one lane of the expressway—a stretch of just over a kilometer with one lane in each direction and a speed limit of 40 km/h.
By the end of October, weather permitting, traffic is set to be allowed on the viaducts at the Mistrzejowice interchange. Drivers coming from Kielce and Warsaw will then be able to reach Nowa Huta, the eastern districts of Kraków, and the A4 highway directly. This should relieve Kocmyrzowska Street, which currently serves as an informal detour between the Grębałów and Raciborowice interchanges via Prusy and Zastów. At this stage, the new connections will not yet be opened, and it will still be impossible to access the S7 highway heading toward Nowa Huta from the S52.
Ring – Kraków with a complete bypass
The remaining connections at the Mistrzejowice interchange are set to open at the turn of November and December. Drivers coming from Rzeszów or Katowice will have a choice: they can bypass the city from the north via routes S52 and S7 or from the south via highway A4. As noted by the Rynek Infrastruktury portal, Kraków will become the second Polish city after Łódź to have a complete ring road. The opening of exits connecting the interchange to Petőfiego and Okulickiego streets is also planned by the end of the year, completing the 18-kilometer section of S7 from Widoma to Kraków.
The scale of this project is extraordinary. The viaduct in the interchange area is about 1.6 kilometers long and rises as high as 20 meters above the ground in some sections, while the interchange features up to three levels. On the 5-kilometer stretch between Mistrzejowice and Nowa Huta alone, 29 bridges, overpasses, and viaducts were built. The cost of the investment is nearly 1.7 billion zł, with almost 956 million zł coming from EU funds. The contractor is a consortium of Gülermak and Mosty Łódź companies.
Northern Ring Road – Faster Through Tunnels
Rules for driving on S52 will also change before the road is closed. Overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday (from October 20 to 21), GDDKiA will raise the speed limit in the Zielonki tunnel (653 m) and Dziekanowice tunnel (496 m) from 80 to 100 km/h, standardizing the speed limit across the entire Kraków Northern Ring Road. Since its opening in December 2024, over 60 million vehicles have passed through both tunnels, with only six traffic accidents reported there. According to the 2025 Traffic Survey, the Zielonki tunnel handles an average of 42,000 vehicles per day, while the Dziekanowice tunnel handles 35,700. Road authorities note that a lower speed limit could be reinstated if safety conditions worsen.
Drivers – what do these changes mean in practice
The coming weeks will see many minor adjustments to traffic management on the S7 construction site, mainly related to lane repositioning and finishing work on the overpasses. The disruptions in Zakopane will last longer, but once the work is completed, residents of Libertów and Gaj will have conflict-free routes and safe footbridges. It’s worth checking the latest updates from GDDKiA before setting out, as the timelines for subsequent phases depend on weather conditions and progress of the work.
Editorial team at elektromobilni.pl