Hungary’s longest and most expensive bridge – Megyeri Bridge is 10 years old!

Budapest, 2018. szeptember 29. A Megyeri híd látképe az egyik pilonból 2018. szeptember 27-én. Az 1862 méteres hidat, amely Újpestet köti össze Budakalásszal a Szentendrei-szigeten keresztül, 2008. szeptember 30-án adták át. MTI Fotó: Mohai Balázs

A spectacular bridge at the outskirts of Budapest is helping to put traffic into circulation over the river Danube. This is Hungary’s longest bridge with its 1800 metres length called Megyeri Bridge.

One of Hungary’s most beautiful bridges, the 10-year-old Megyeri Bridge is located on the M0 motorway, and its traffic just keeps getting bigger and bigger. This is Hungary’s first slanting cabled bridge which means that the structure of the bridge is not only hung up by one but several other cables. This type of structure became popular after World War II.

The bridge runs over the Szentendrei Island, but we cannot reach the island from the bridge, only from another way. The reason is that the area where the bridge’s legs can be found is a conservation area where a car drove off cannot be built.

On the top of the 100 metres high A-shaped statues there are glassed observation points, but they cannot be visited by the public because they are only 2 metres wide and the elevators can only take two people.

It seemed possible for some time that the bridge would be called Stephen Colbert bridge, who tried to gaze his popularity through television to win the Internet voting about the bridge’s name. Even Chuck Norris and Miklós Zrínyi got second and third to him. In the end, the name Megyeri was chosen by the Hungarian Geographical Names Council considering the bridge’s location.

Photo: MTI

The bridge cost 62 billion Hungarian forints which equals 195 million Euros. It contains 45,000 tonnes of cement and nearly 120,000 cubic metres of concrete were used. It is held by 88 cables and approximately 45,000 vehicles pass the bridge every day.

The bridge’s location was already known in 1993, although the construction started only years later. For some time, it was questionable whether it will be built or not. Finally, the works began in 2006, but the flood soon destroyed the first parts.

Became interested? Then Megyeri Bridge is waiting for you!