Budapest, 1 June 2021 – Budapest’s pride, the Széchenyi Chain Bridge will be renovated, thus from 16 June the bridge will be closed. From this date, not even public transport lines will be allowed to go through the bridge, in parallel of which, the route of several public transport lines operated by BKK will be modified. Due to the reconstruction works, there will be traffic changes applicable on Hegyalja út: there will be a unified bus lane between the BAH hub (BAH-csomópont) and Döbrentei tér in the direction of the Elisabeth Bridge. BKK Centre for Budapest Transport has done its best to ensure that the renovation works could cause the least inconvenience to Budapest’s passengers.
On 16 June, renovation of the Széchenyi Chain Bridge moves into a new phase. In the early morning, the bridge will be fully closed to road traffic, thus not even public transport lines will be allowed to pass through the bridge. Due to the closure of the bridge, similar to private cars, BKK’s lines are required to find new routes in order passengers could get about in the Hungarian capital smoothly. On 29 April, BKK launched a public consultation about public transport lines whose service are affected by the closure of the Chain Bridge. From 16 June, several lines will be running on modified routes and from 19 June, the transport of Hegyalja út will be modified, too.
What kind of traffic changes will be applicable on Hegyalja út?
On Hegyalja út, in the peak hours cars occupy an area nearly twenty times larger than public transport vehicles, while motorists carry only just over its half travelling in that area. As there is no unified bus lane on this section, the continuous congestions caused by individual car traffic have a significant effect also on BKK’s lines, resulting in sometimes 5-10-minute delay in the operation of buses. Due to the closure of the Széchenyi Bridge, passengers opting for Budapest’s public transport services would be at a disadvantage on Hegyalja út. Therefore, BKK will modify the transport of the road section from 19 June, as follows:
• a unified bus lane will be created from the direction of the BAH-csomópont to Döbrentei tér;
• the operation of traffic lights on Hegyalja út will be adjusted to the new traffic order;
• traffic lanes will be restructured at Döbrentei tér to decrease congestion ahead of the Elisabeth Bridge.
Therefore, on Hegyalja út to Pest, getting through the intersection of Döbrentei út will take the same amount of time for motorists using private cars, while passengers opting for the bus services could travel less by 5-8 minutes in the peak hours, compared to the current situation. Thus, passengers using the bus service could save a total of 21,037 minutes on a daily basis; i.e. 350 hours.
Which lines will be affected by the closure of the Chain Bridge?
From 16 June, the following traffic order will be applicable to BKK’s lines in the surrounding area of the bridge:
From the city centre, the Castle District can be reached primarily from Széll Kálmán tér either by the high capacity metroline M2 running frequently or by buses. From Széll Kálmán tér, line group 16 (bus lines 16, 16A and 116) will provide an unchanged connection to the inner part of the Buda Castle, however bus line 16 will run on a shortened route on Széll Kálmán tér-Várnegyed-Clark Ádám tér-Széll Kálmán tér from June. At Clark Ádám tér, bus line 16 will continue to be a transfer point to tramlines 19 and 41 of the Interconnected Tram Network.
During the renovation works, bus line 105 will run through Erzsébet Bridge, by serving also Clark Ádám tér and Széchenyi István tér. Bus lines will be running on the Lower Embankment between Erzsébet Bridge and Széchenyi István tér and in the opposite direction on Apáczai Csere János utca.
In the Pest side, bus line 178 will be connected to the route of bus line 105, running between Gyöngyösi utca M and Naphegy tér, by serving also Széchenyi István tér and Andrássy út, facilitating trips between the city centre and Közép-Buda (Middle Buda). BKK recommends the service of bus line 5 for passengers going from Krisztinaváros to the direction of Rákóczi út and Keleti pályaudvar.
A new express service marked with 110E will be in service from Apor Vilmos tér to Bosnyák tér to reach the city centre from Buda quickly. After the closures, the new line will be running on Hegyalja út (on the new bus lane) and also on Elisabeth Bridge and Rákóczi út. The headway of bus lines 110 and 112 remains unchanged.
Night buses 916 and 990 will be running via Elisabeth Bridge, Szabad sajtó út and Kossuth Lajos utca, not serving Deák Ferenc tér and Széchenyi István tér. The transfer point in the Astoria transport hub of other night buses in the city centre remains unchanged.
Such works, such as the renovation of the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, which have an impact on the life of the entire city could bring about inevitable inconveniences. In addition, the reconstruction works of metroline M3 carried out for nearly two years pose a heavy traffic burden on the narrow, high-traffic, densely-populated city parts situated in the city centre. Therefore, the best solution is to opt for transport modes that pose less heavy transport burden on the environment. BKK Centre for Budapest Transport would like to kindly recommend that passengers getting about in the Hungarian capital use public transport services to the city centre, due to which, they can contribute to decrease Budapest’s traffic burden.
