Via Baltica (S61) is one of the most important roads Polish and Europe Central and Eastern. It is an international expressway with mileage m.in from the S8 road from Warsaw and further through Łomża – Ełk – Suwałki to Budzisko (border with Lithuania). From Lithuania you can get to Latvia and Estonia.

Since 2008 The local government of Ełk together with other local governments and parliamentarians sought to determine the route of the S61 expressway – Via Baltica from Warsaw by Łomża, Ełk, Suwałki.

Particularly the president of Ełk Tomasz Andrukiewicz and other local government officials from the EGO subregion were active, who successfully undertook a number of initiatives and activities, to choose a route favorable for Ełk. And it worked.

Devotion for use of the last section of the Via Baltica expressway in the province Warmian-Masurian with a length of 23 kilometers, i.e. the Ełk Południe junction (in Zdunkach) to the Kalinowo junction (village of Wysokie), will improve safety and quality of travel in the region.

The official opening, which took place today in the morning, was attended by m.in Minister of Infrastructure Andrzej Adamczyk, Secretary of State, Head of the Government Center for Strategic Analysis Norbert Maliszewski, Deputy Minister of National Defense Michał Wiśniewski, Deputy Minister of Development and Technology Olga Semeniuk-Patkowska, Members of the Polish Parliament Wojciech Kossakowski, Kazimierz Gwiazdowski, Jerzy Małecki and Jarosław Zieliński, Senator of the Republic of Poland Małgorzata Kopiczko, Mayor of the City of Ełk, local government officials from nearby local governments, as well as contractors of the investment - Mostostal and Trakcja.

-Lo we cease to be an open-air museum of Europe. A window to the world opens for Elk and towns located on the Via Baltica route. Effective actions have led to to the final, and it began in 2007, when in the group of local governments Ełk, Gołdap, Olecko we began to dream about Via Baltice knowing that there is a different mileage. We managed to win the mileage through Ełk, managed to convince decision-makers to get money from the European Union and from the state budget. We managed to choose one of 42 variants. Thank you for consistent and effective implementation of this investment to the ministers of infrastructure, contractors and the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways – said Tomasz Andrukiewicz, Mayor of Ełk.

In The president then thanked the Elks and the inhabitants of the surrounding area for patience and enduring the hardships of construction. He showed his gratitude to everyone parliamentarians, in particular Wojciech Kossakowski, as well as former MPs and Paweł Czemiel – regional councillor from Elk

Via Baltica will connect Ełk with large cities and significantly shorten the travel time m.in. to Warsaw and Lithuania. The investment will benefit entrepreneurs who already operate in Ełk, investors who are just investing their capital with us and residents and tourists. For people going to Masuria, the time is shortened directions from Warsaw and central Polish. Currently, travel time from the capital to Ełk is approx. 2.5 hours. After completing the entire road on all sections, the route with Warsaw to Ełk can be overcome in less than 2 hours, which will be the fastest access to Masuria.

On January 3, 2022, it was submitted to use a 20 km section of the S61 expressway on the route Wysokie – Raczki, And on September 13, 2022, a 23-kilometer section of road on the route was put into operation Szczuczyn – Ełk Południe (Zdunki).  Moreover as part of the construction of S61 Ełk Południe – Wysokie (23 km), a road connection was created with the Ełk bypass along the S16 road (exit to Olsztyn).