Hungary to expand M1 motorway to 6 lanes in historic EUR 2 billion project
The M1 motorway will be widened to six lanes between the capital and Győr (Western Hungary), Construction and Transportation Minister János Lázár said in Esztergom (Northern Hungary) on Thursday.
Lázár said the HUF 800 billion (EUR 2 billion) project would be the biggest motorway construction in a century. The first, 24-km-long stretch to be widened will run between Budapest and Bicske, he added. Lázár said the M100 expressway, connecting Esztergom with the M1, would be built at an estimated cost of HUF 500 billion (EUR 1.2 billion).
Separate tenders for three sections of the dual carriageway will be called, and construction could start on two in the spring of 2026, he added. A preliminary study on the construction of a road and railway bridge over the Danube, complementing the M100, is underway, he said.
Lázár said that the length of dual carriageways in Hungary would reach 2,000 km by 2026, up from 1,273 km in 2010. He said plans for a HUF 20 billion extension of Esztergom’s flood defences would be completed by the autumn. He said an initiative by Esztergom’s mayor to build a new hospital for the region’s 130,000 residents deserved support.
As we reported on Wednesday, Hungary’s motorway network is set for a major upgrade with the introduction of intelligent emergency lane systems (ITS) on key routes, starting with the M1 motorway. This innovative approach aims to alleviate traffic congestion, reduce emissions, and improve road safety, marking a significant shift in the country’s transportation infrastructure strategy. Read more HERE.
Read also:
- Hungary opens emergency lanes to revolutionise motorway traffic
- Expansion of M1 motorway in Hungary reaches a new milestone – PHOTOS
More expensive motorways and ”intelligent emergency lane systems” which ambulances can conveniently use to transport patients to overcrowded and crumbling public hospitals that lack proper space, equipment and professional staff due to lack of funding. Motorways are more important than public healthare for the Hungarian government.
This is one of the only ‘genuinely needed’ road development projects in Hungary due to high levels of traffic demand. And it’s well overdue. The existing two lane motorway is full to bursting. It’s not like people don’t pay handsomely for the privilege of driving on it, the road tolls in Hungary are higher than Austria.
Most of the motorways and expressways are economic white elephants whose cost of maintenance is higher than the income generated by the road tolls, but of course there were and remain a ton of backhanders to be made from their construction.
Long read – in case people are interested.
https://buildingconnections.eu/en/utepites/2024/10/29/tortenelmi-fejlesztes-indul-a-munka-az-m1-esen-interju/
@Londonsteve – share your curiosity regarding the identity of the worthy companies and individuals realizing this monster of a project!
Norbert, I don’t think you need to dig very far to discover who benefits. The toll road concession was given to a consortium formed of Meszaros and Szijj for the next 35 years. They receive an annual fee for operating the relevant roads and their companies will arrange for the construction of new roads and the maintenance of existing ones. Meanwhile, the Hungarian government retains the toll revenue. There is no correlation between the toll revenue and the degree of income for Meszaros and Szijj, in other words, if they do a crappy job and neglect the roads to save money thus discouraging motorists from using the network, they’ll still receive a fixed fee. It’s hard to avoid toll roads in Hungary without increasing journey times disproportionately, particularly so in the case of transit traffic, so no matter how poor the roads are or may become, most road users are guaranteed to pay the tolls.
I for one don’t and prefer to add an hour to my journey time using road no.1 en route to Vienna. I find it hard to justify the cost to save 1 hour from Budapest and I have a more relaxed, altogether more enjoyable journey without being strafed by flashing headlights every 60 seconds on the M1 by people in a hurry to meet their maker. I suspect that tolerance of excessively high speeds by the police is part of the overall plan to encourage as many road users as possible to pay the tolls.