New Bridge Connects Hungary with Slovakia

The newest bridge linking Hungary and Slovakia, the Saint Barbara Bridge over the Ipoly river, has been built. The crossing, which cost almost HUF 3 billion (nearly EUR 8 million), is not yet operational due to the river flooding, but as soon as the water level recedes, the Slovak side can be reached from Hungary in no time.

“Hungary remains committed to establishing as many border crossing points with Slovakia as possible in the future,” the Foreign Minister said on Friday at the closing ceremony of the new HUF 2.9 billion Ipoly bridge between Drégelypalánk in Hungary and Ipolyhídvég (Ipeľské Predmostie) in Slovakia. Describing the completion of the construction of the Saint Barbara Bridge as a milestone in the implementation of the national strategy program, Péter Szijjártó recalled that an important objective of the government has been to strengthen cooperation with other nations, especially neighboring countries.

He pointed out: “Hungary has the longest common border with Slovakia, 654 kilometers, with only 22 crossings in 2010.

But in 2014, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico signed an agreement to increase the number of border crossings.”

Thanks to this agreement, the Saint Barbara Bridge is now the 40th crossing point on the border between the two countries, with eighteen new crossing points having been opened in fourteen years.

Szijjártó called this a joint success story, and added that Hungary is ready to continue building new bridges, roads, and railways between the two countries.

They are therefore looking forward to the official visit of the Slovak Prime Minister to Budapest next Tuesday, which will provide an opportunity for further talks.

Speaking about the history of the Saint Barbara Bridge, the foreign minister noted that János Hunyadi (leading Hungarian military and political figure in the 15th century) ordered the construction of a bridge on the Ipoly River in the 15th century, but the bridge connecting the two settlements was destroyed during World War II. Thus, in order to get from Drégelypalánk to Ipolyhídvég, people had to travel 20 kilometers to the border crossing at Parassapuszta, which took 20-25 minutes.

The 48.5 meter-long Saint Barbara Bridge, built at a cost of HUF 2.9 billion, required the construction of one kilometer of road in Hungary and 400 meters in Slovakia,”

the Foreign Minister said.

He also added that the flooding of the Ipoly river currently does not allow access to the bridge by road, but he hopes that as many people as possible will use the new bridge once the floodwaters have receded.

Via MTI, Featured image: Facebook/Szijjártó Péter