Extension of Hungary’s busiest motorway in danger: traffic jams between Budapest and Vienna?

The widening and capacity extension of Hungary’s busiest motorway should have started this year. The M1 project will now be delayed by at least two years.

Hungary’s busiest motorway, the M1 (E60) won’t be upgraded for at least two years, RTL reports. Construction works between Bicske and Tatabánya, west of Buda, should have started this year, but the project is pushed back to 2025.

As we have recently reported, a surprising statement was released by the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday. The statement said that after “reviewing” the concession contracts for motorways, the Hungarian government decided to make changes to cut costs.

However, at that time, it was not clear exactly what kind of cuts the government was planning and how exactly those would affect the development and service of Hungarian motorways.

The affected road

The first concrete information came from László Szimicsku, Communication Director of the Hungarian Concession Infrastructure Development firm. He confirmed that projects that were originally part of the “levelling” projects aimed to raise the level of the Hungarian motorway system will be delayed until 2025.

When RTL asked for further clarification, László Szimicsku confirmed that this will only mean that the widening of motorway M1 will be delayed “at most” until September 2025. The M1 motorways currently run with 2×2 lanes between Bicske and Tatabánya.

The Hungarian government announced that an extra lane will be built between Budapest and Vienna back in 2019. The project should have already started in 2021, but not a single meter has since been built.

Hungary’s largest-ever motorway upgrade will go ahead

Despite the unfortunate news that the busiest Hungarian motorway won’t receive its overdue upgrade, Mr Szimicsku provided some good news as well.

He confirmed that “the largest ever motorway upgrade” plan, which started in April 2023, is unaffected by the changing plans of the Hungarian government.

You can find more information about the project and the affected roads HERE.