Motorways to Be Expanded with ‘Intelligent’ Hard Shoulders

In 2022, the Hungarian Concessionary Infrastructure Development Company (MKIF Magyar Koncessziós Infrastruktúra Fejlesztő) took over from the state the task of bringing the country’s road network up to a uniform standard by renovating more than five hundred kilometers of roads over a period of three years. The work will be completed next summer, and from September construction will start to widen the M1 motorway to two lanes, Index reports.

The company has taken over the operation, maintenance and development of 1,237 kilometers of motorways from the Hungarian state for 35 years under a concession contract signed 2 years ago. The company is also responsible for the design and construction of new sections.

After the signing of the contract, Antal Rogán, Minister in charge of the Prime Minister’s Office, said that the concession mainly covers roads that handle international traffic. The agreement covers a 1,237-kilometer section of the motorway network, that has since been extended by a further section, the newly completed M44.

Under the contract, the company, together with its subcontractors, will build 279 kilometers of new motorway sections, and will be widening 299 kilometers of motorway by 2034.

Before these improvements can begin, however, MKIF is required to bring the network’s pavement to a uniform standard. In 2023, more than 3.6 million square meters of asphalt pavement were renewed, and this year another 20 percent, some 3.9 million square meters, are scheduled for renewal. The resurfacing work must be completed by the end of August 2025.

The company is not only replacing the damaged pavements, it is also renewing some 200 bridges and flyovers, while upgrading the network.

As Tamás Kertesi, deputy chief technical officer of MKIF told magyarepitok.hu, in the next few years the M1 will be widened from the M0 to the border; the M7 from the M0 to Balatonvilágos (southern shore of Lake Balaton); and the M3 from the Szentmihályi road junction to Gyöngyös (eastern Hungary).

Work on the first phase of the M1 is scheduled to start in September 2025, on the M7 in 2027 and on the M3 to Gyöngyös from 2031.

The dual 3-lane motorway between the M0 and Concó rest area will take four years to complete, with the construction of a so-called intelligent hard shoulders (included in ITS – intelligent transportation system), which will only be opened when traffic conditions warrant it. This means that during rush hour, cars will be able to use up to two lanes to Győr, then the 2×2 lanes will remain between Győr and Hegyeshalom (western Hungary), but a full-fledged, open-able hard shoulders will be built here too.

The M7 motorway, due to be widened in 2027, will have 3+1 lanes from the M0 to Szabadbattyán, while between Szabadbattyán and Balatonvilágos the motorway will have an extended hard shoulder alongside the two lanes. The reconstruction of the M3 will start in 2031 at the latest, and the 3+1 lane will be built from the Szentmihályi junction to Gyöngyös.

Meanwhile, the country’s most modern hot mix asphalt production system is under construction alongside the M7 motorway in Polgárdi (central Hungary). Full-scale trial operation is expected to start in mid-October.

Via Index, Featured image: Pixabay