Gigantic motorway renovation wave in Hungary: 2 major motorways concerned

The gigantic wave of motorway renovations continues in Hungary. This year’s renovations will start on the M7 motorway, the Hungarian Concession Infrastructure Development Plc. (Magyar Koncessziós Infrastruktúra Fejlesztő Zrt., MKIF) announced. Next week, renovations will start on the M3 motorway, where the bulk of the work is expected this year.

On Wednesday 20 March, this year’s works will start on the M7 with the construction of diversions at three locations, the Kőröshegyi viaduct, Balatonlelle and Becsehely, Világgazdaság reports. This week, preparatory work will also begin on the M7 to replace the damaged pavement, according to the MKIF, whose workers will also start levelling the M3 motorway next week.

Renovations during the Easter period

Most of the renovations this year will be on the M3 motorway. However, it has been indicated that on the M1, due to the increased traffic over Easter, they will wait until after the holiday to carry out the renovations and will not be working on the M1 until the following week. As last year, work on the M7 motorway between Budapest and Lake Balaton will be suspended during the holiday period.

In 2024, the company’s staff will continue to work on 9 controlled-access highways: the M1, M15, M3, M30, M35, M4, M7, M70 and M8.

Hungarian history’s largest motorway upgrade

The company points out that the largest motorway upgrade in Hungary’s history started last year and will last until 2025. This affects a total of 538 kilometres, or 43% of the roads they operate and maintain. In 2023, 3.6 million square metres of old, damaged pavement were replaced with new asphalt, which involved the use of 500,000 tonnes of asphalt.