Scandalous! Chain Bridge renovations lasting about 4 years

Only one year passed but the time required for renewing Chain Bridge has been tripled. These 3-4 years do not even include the restoration of the Buda Castle Tunnel — which was originally included in the project. The strangest part of the story is that the reason is not identified, as Index.hu reported.

According to the report in April 2017, Chain Bridge was planned to be renewed within one and a half years from 72 million euros. By next April, these plans have radically changed: three years of work and 51 million euros were mentioned, while Buda Castle Tunnel’s renewal was not a part of the project anymore.

It is not known why the plans have changed in only one year, but the estimated time is now almost three times longer than in the beginning.

According to the permission document drawn up last year, the working process would have begun in June 2017 and would have finished in December 2019. In the current record, December 2018 is mentioned as the date of starting and December 2021 as the time of finishing the constructions. This new plan does not mention the Buda Castle Tunnel anymore.

The renewal of the Chain Bridge has been a hot topic for some time. In 2014, the idea of wider pedestals came up beside the plans to make the bridgehead in Pest greener. Due to lack of funds, both these ideas were forgotten soon.

The removal of the Buda Castle Tunnel also served the purpose of saving money. This project will be treated separately after the renewal of the Chain Bridge is completed. BKK manager Dávid Vitézy wrote a Facebook post about the topic on Sunday:

This means that the Tunnel-Chain Bridge axis will be closed for the traffic for twice the time originally planned, namely for 4-5 years. This means twice as long closure time not just for motorists, but also for buses 16 and 105, as well as for cyclists.

He also noted that BKK and Budapest has lost its control over traffic issues and the city hall’s bureaucracy rules the system now. He stated that a whole new approach and structure is needed to maintain transport in Budapest.

It was revealed in the bill regarding the renewal of the Chain Bridge that an underground garage is planned under the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

The attachments claim that the investment is currently just a concept. Even this schedule and budget is uncertain as the tender still has to be announced. As in the case of Metro 3, some more expensive offers may be submitted.

According to another proposal discussed on Wednesday, several other investments will be delayed.

The planning and preparation BBK’s road renewal program’s deadline was prolonged from 2018 to 2020. The sources will be reconsidered.

The deadline for the program’s execution — mostly due to technical issues and legal processes — was also delayed from 2019 to 2020. The preparation, planning and execution of BKK’s artwork renovation program have also increased its costs and estimated time. The renewal of the Russian metro rakes is delayed due to Metrovagonmas.

The construction of the end station in Budafok is also prolonged until the end of 2018.

The development of the cog-wheel currently lacks the construction permit so it will also be finished by about 31 December 2018. The tram line of Újpalota was removed from the plans.

The cyclist bridge near Duna Arena and the cycle track belonging to it do not have the required market approval yet, so it joined the list of projects scheduled for the last days of this year.

The prolonging of tram line 1 is also late, as many of the tasks scheduled for 2017 were delayed to 2018. The renewal of Metro 1 suffers from similar problems.

Source: Index.hu