Should the Chain Bridge remain car-free?

Opposition LMP called on the Budapest city council on Tuesday to keep Chain Bridge free of cars even after the bridge’s ongoing revamp is finished.

Lawmaker Bernadett Bakos told a press conference that it would be a great step towards a “more livable and likeable” city centre if only cyclists, buses and vehicles with special markings were allowed to use the bridge, and pedestrians, once the pavement is finished.

Making Chain Bridge car-free as a result of an ongoing revamp project “would not be a big loss to drivers but it would be a huge gain for public transport and cyclists”, she said.

The government is threatening the city council and the “car lobby” has also been exercising pressure, Bakos said. Yet, experience from before the revamp project showed that the narrow Chain Bridge hit by permanent traffic jams accounted for merely 4 percent of the total traffic of Budapest bridges, she added.

It will cause no disruptions to car traffic in the city if Chain Bridge is kept car-free but it will be a great opportunity for “much greener public transport”, Bakos said.

As we wrote a few weeks ago, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony reopened the capital city’s landmark Chain Bridge undergoing reconstruction to buses, taxis, motorbikes and bicycles, details HERE.

Read alsoVIDEO: Iconic bridge of Budapest, the Chain Bridge, has changed a lot in one year

Source: MTI