R4 expressway (Slovakia)

R4 is an expressway (Slovak: rýchlostná cesta) in the north–south direction in eastern Slovakia.

Expressway R4
Rýchlostná cesta R4
Completed        Under construction        Planned
Route information
Part of E50 E58 E71 E371
Length	18.8 km (11.7 mi) Planned: 73.9 km (45.9 mi) The lengths are stated without concurrences
Major junctions
From	S19 border with Poland (planned)
Major intersections	D1 Prešov, West D1 near Košické Oľšany R2 near Haniska (planned)
To	M30 border with Hungary
Location
Country	Slovakia
Regions	Prešov Region, Košice Region
Major cities	Prešov, Košice
Highway system
Highways in Slovakia
← R3 → R5

It goes from border with Poland and ending at border with Hungary. It goes through or around Svidník, Prešov and Košice. The section between Prešov and Košické Oľšany is shared with D1 and sections between Košické Oľšany and Haniska with R2. The road is part of the proposed Via Carpatia route.

From the total length of 73.9 km (excluding shared sections), these sections are in operation:

• 4.6 km Svidník bypass (two-lane)
• 14.2 km Haniska - Milhosť

Under Construction:

Prešov northern bypass - Part I or Prešov, North - Prešov, West, opens in July 2023

Haniska - Košické Oľšany or Košice, Šaca - Košické Oľšany, Part II opens in 2025 (R2 expressway, concurrent with R4)

Overview of the expressway R4

Section order	Section designation	Length of section in km	Start of construction of section	Year of section completion	Exits and intersections
1.	Border crossing SK/PL - Hunkovce	7,9	Not included in the plan before 2028	?	1. Vyšný Komárnik 2. Hunkovce
2.	Hunkovce - Ladomirová	8,2	Not included in the plan before 2028	?	3. Svidník - sever (north)
3.	Svidník Bypass	4,6 + 0,4 Temporary connection	2007 - right half After 2028 - left half	2010 - right half ? - left half	901.Temporary connection to the road I/21 - sever (north) 4. Svidník - juh (south), completion
4.	Svidník - Rakovčík	6,0	Not included in the plan before 2028	?	5. Stročín
5.	Rakovčík - Radoma	7,0	Not included in the plan before 2028	?	6. Okrúhle
6.	Radoma - Giraltovce	7,5	Not included in the plan before 2028	?	7. Giraltovce
7.	Giraltovce - Kuková	6,5	Not included in the plan before 2028	?	Sections without exits
8.	Kuková - Lipníky	8,0	Not included in the plan before 2028	?	8. Kuková
9.	Lipníky - Kapušany	4,0	2026	2028	9. Lipníky
10.	Prešov northern bypass, part II (Kapušany - Prešov, sever)	10,2	2022/2023	2026/2027	10. Kapušany 11. Prešov - východ (East)
11.	Prešov northern bypass, part I or Prešov,sever (North)- Prešov, západ (West)	4,3	07/2019	03/2023 07/2023	12. Prešov - sever (North) 13. Prešov - západ (West) R4xD1 intersection
12.	Košice - Milhosť, Border crossing SK/HU	14,2	2010	2013	14. Košice - Juh (South), Intersection R4xR2, completion 15. Haniska, intersection R4xR2 (the intersection is planned, it will be built by 2030) 16. Kechnec

Future of construction

=== Prešov northern bypass, part I (Prešov, north - Prešov, west) ===

Overview of the section under construction
Length of section	4,3 km	Contract of start of construction	July 2019	Total construction costs without VAT (NDS a.s. estimate before concluding the contract)	179 million EUR
Contractor	Association of Váhostav – SK, a. s. a TuCon, a. s.	Contract of end of construction	March 2023 The deadline will not be met	Total construction costs without VAT (Amount according to the contract)	143 million EUR
Construction supervision	Association BUNG Slovakia s.r.o. and INFRAM SK s.r.o.	Assumption of opening of the section	July 2023	Order of the winning price offer in public procurement	The cheapest
				The cheapest offer in public procurement without VAT	143 million EUR
Comment: This section forms the first part of the northern bypass of Prešov. It connects the D1 highway at the Prešov - West intersection, while it ends at the Prešov - North intersection, where there is an exit to the I/68 road, which connects Prešov with Sabinov, Stara Ľubovňa and ends at the border with Poland. The section is built in full profile. The Bikoš tunnel, 1153 meters long, is located on the route of the expressway. The tunnel was broken on May 27, 2021. In each tunnel tube there are seven fire fighting niches, seven SOS cabins and one one-sided emergency bay, which is located approximately in the middle of the tunnel. This section includes nine bridges, including three bridges on the main route of the R4 expressway, one on the I/68 road, three bridges on the branches of the Prešov - North intersection and two on the access roads to the tunnel portals. The building also includes three frames and one retaining wall, the diversion of the Dzikov waterway, the modification of the railway crossing, the establishment of a zero field, anti-noise walls, an information system and the diversion of existing engineering networks such as water pipes, sewers, high-pressure gas distributions, or high-current and low-current distributions. After the completion of this section, Prešov will only be partially relieved of transit traffic, as transit traffic will be fully redirected only after the completion of the next section, Prešov Northern Bypass II. stage (section Prešov, north - Prešov, east), which will separate Prešov from traffic heading east and northeast of Prešov. In addition, the section will not be completed on time, the current delay in opening is approximately four months and is expected in July 2023.
The construction of this section of the highway is financed from the state budget. The construction of the highway is designed, ordered and coordinated by NDS a.s. in cooperation with the Ministry of Transport and Construction of the Slovak Republic.

Section Prešov, northern bypass II. part (Section Kapušany - Prešov, north)

Overview of the section in preparation
Length of section	10,2 km	Assumption of the start of public procurement	2022
		Assumption of start of construction	2022 / 2023
		Assumption for commissioning	2026 / 2027
Comment: This section forms the second part of the northern bypass of Prešov. After its completion, transit traffic from Prešov will be redirected to highways. The section begins at the Kapušany exit, which will be located on the I/18 road east of the village of Kapušany. The exit will be implemented as a level crossing. Route R4 will then bypass the village of Kapušany to the south, then turn northwest, cross road I/18 with a bridge and continue south of the village of Fintice, where the Prešov - East exit will be built. The route will continue further west, while west of the village of Fintice it will enter the nearly two-kilometer long Okruhliak tunnel. After leaving the tunnel, north of the village of Pustá Dolina, the route will be connected to the Prešov - north exit, which is currently under construction together with the rest of the following section of the route, it is the section Prešov, north - Prešov, west. The construction period is estimated at three to four years and will be specified only after the evaluation of the tender for the contractor. After the passage of the R4 expressway, the I/18 road between Prešov, Ľubotica and Kapušany will be lightened. The section will be realized in full profile, the Okruhliak tunnel will be built as a two-pipe. Despite the fact that the section is ready for construction from spring 2020, the tender for the construction contractor was announced for the media on February 24, 2022, but in fact the announcement was made only on March 1, 2022, with the publication of the order in the ÚVO gazette. The current deadline for submitting bids expires on May 25, 2022, but in current practice, it is common to extend these deadlines, even at the last minute. The selection of the contractor and the signing of the contract are expected to be in the course of 2023. In the case of a very fast and problem-free course of the competition, the signing of the contract can also be assumed at the end of 2022.

Sections

Vyšný Komárnik (Border crossing SK/PL) – Hunkovce

The beginning of this section, planned in a half profile of category R 24.5/100, is located on the state border with Poland near the village of Vyšný Komárnik. There will also be a large rest area intended mainly for transit traffic. Beyond the border crossing, there will be an interchange with a connection to I/21 and the Polish expressway S19. The next intersection will be located at the end of the section near the village of Hunkovce. On the total length of the section of approximately 8 kilometers, 7 bridge structures will be built directly on the body of the R4 and another four outside the expressway.

Hunkovce – Ladomirová

The section with a length of 8.2 km is planned in a half profile of category R 24.5/100. It will pass east of the villages of Hunkovce and Ladomirová and will mainly divert freight and transit traffic from the I/21 road. The construction will include fourteen bridge structures, an ecoduct, the completion of the intersection "Svidník-sever" and a temporary connection to the previous section. Currently, the public procurement process for the contractor of the Documentation for the building permit, Documentation for the offer, Copyright supervision and performance of the Coordinator for the documentation is underway.

Svidník bypass

The bypass of the city of Svidník with a length of 4.573 kilometers has been under construction since December 2007. The road here is currently built in a half-profile (category R 11.5/100 or R 22.5/100) and has diverted traffic from the inner city and thus lightened the road I/21. There are 9 bridges and a level crossing "Svidník - South" and a level connection "Svidník - North". The maximum permitted speed on the section is set at 100 km/h (62 mph).

The construction was originally supposed to be completed in May 2009, but there were problems with landslides of the embankment under the road, which needed to be rehabilitated. The construction work had to continue and the section was opened to traffic only on December 20, 2010. The contractor was the association of companies Inžinierske stavby, a. s., Strabag s. r. about. and Eurovia SK a. s.

Svidník – Kapušany

The R4 expressway between Kapušany and Svidník did not have a fixed route for a long time. There were 2 concepts for its route, namely along the existing road I/21 (formerly I/73) around Giraltoviec (red variant), or around Hanušovice, Domaše and Stropkovo (blue variant). The irony of fate is that these colors did not only mark a line on the map of the study that came up with these variants, but were also alternately preferred, blue during the so-called "blue", i.e. j. right-wing governments (2. Dzurind's government and Radič's government) and red during the "red" governments, i.e. j. governments that Robert Fico assembled as a representative of the left party. This alternation of variants was not helped either by the original final opinion from 2009, which stated the equivalence of both variants and thus left the choice to a political decision. The definitive was probably determined by the so-called the feasibility study, which was prepared in 2015 by the company HBH projekt and which recommended implementing R4 in the so-called new red variant, i.e. j. along the current road I/21. However, this resulting variant is not quite the same as the original red one, the biggest change is the routing of the R4 between Lipníki and Radom slightly to the west, thanks to which the directional conditions have improved, but mainly to the omission of three short tunnels. On September 21, 2015, a public tender was announced for the contractor of the report on the environmental assessment of the construction for the Kapušany - Lipníky, Kuková - Giraltovce and Radom - Rakovčík sections, which confirmed the results of the aforementioned feasibility study and subsequently determined the phasing of this, less than 40 km long section, as follows:

• Kapušany – Lipníky
• Lipníky – Kuková
• Kuková – Giraltovce
• Giraltovce – Radoma
• Radoma – Rakovčik
• Rakovčík – Svidník south.

The R 24.5/100 category is proposed for the entire section, but between Lipník and Svidník, due to low intensities, R4 should only be built in a half profile.

Prešov, Northern bypass

The northern bypass of Prešov will be 14.5 km long. This part of R4 solves the connection of D1 with the section of R4 between Kapušany and Svidník. The section will also improve traffic in the city. It was divided into two sections, while each of the sections will be implemented separately.

Prešov, northern bypass, Part I

The section will be 4.3 km long. The Bikoš tunnel (1,155 m), 3 bridges on the expressway, 3 bridges on the branches of the intersection and 3 bridges outside the body of the expressway will be located here. Part of the construction is also the reconstruction of the existing road I/68 in the location of MÚK Prešov - North into a 4-lane divided road. The proposed category is R 24.5/100, in tunnels 2T 7.5/100 in full profile. Construction is currently underway by the association of Váhostav and TuCon with the contractual termination in March 2023, in fact the section will be opened to traffic with a delay of three or four months.

Prešov, northern bypass, Part II

The section will be 10.2 km long. The tender for the contractor was announced on March 1, 2022.

Košice – Milhosť

This section connects the regional city of Košice with the state border with Hungary near the village of Milhosť. This part of the R4 measures 14.2 km and is built entirely in full profile. Construction officially began on August 27, 2010, and the entire section was handed over for use on November 7, 2013. The construction costs reached the amount of €78 million, the state expertise initially considered a price of €117 million. The section is also part of the V.A Pan-European Corridor. There are 16 bridges and 2 level crossings on the route. Due to the construction of this section of the R4, it was necessary to partially modify the road I/68. For the construction of this section, which was designed by Dopravoprojekt, a.s. with Prešov division and implemented by Skanska SK, a.s., category R 24.5/120 was used (with the exception of the section Kechnec - the border with Hungary, where due to the respect of the crossing point on the state border, the route must lead through a "stepping stone" complying with the design speed of only 100 km/h). The dominant feature of the section is the 530 m long bridge over the ŽSR broad-gauge line, whose main span with a span of 80 m was made with fly-in concrete.

See also

• Controlled-access highway
• Highways in Slovakia
• Transport in Slovakia

External links

• Highways portal by INEKO Institute (slovak)
• R4 exits