The foundation stone of the bike path between Budapest and Szentendre has been laid. The cycling road is to be built along the river Danube – this connecting route is one of the most neglected, yet one of the most-used parts of the Eurovelo 6 (European cycling route network). If everything goes as planned, the path will have been finished by next August.
So many people have been waiting for so long for this section to be built,
said Máriusz Révész, an active government commissioner, right before laying the foundation stone. Originally, the bike path was promised to be ready in the first half of this year the preparation processes and the coordination took far too long, though, so the construction can only be started in the autumn.
The 5.6-kilometre-long cycling route costs 850 million forints (2.837.257 USD) and mainly covers the path of the original tracks. However, one part of it is going to be built along Lake Lupa. The expected handover date of the route is going to be in next August.
The planned interventions:
- a new cycling bridge over the creek Dera
- renewal of the coverage on the existing parts of the bike path
- building new tracks on the new section of the cycling route
- paving the tracks along with the parts on the dirt road
- traffic control
Photo: MTI/Máthé Zoltán
During the planning process, there was an important question about the section in Budakalász, where the path goes through the forest on a beautiful winding path. The existing, 2-metre-wide paved cycling route is going through the Natura2000 forest area, with small, unsafe arcs at the turns. They were uncertain about widening it, so, they planned to lead the EuroVelo on an alternative path. After the revision of the issue, they decided not to do that, and to keep the original track of the path – if it is environmentally friendly – by resolving the technical problems.
Photo: MTI/Máthé Zoltán
EuroVelo 6 is going to be extended towards the North as well.
A new cycling route is planned to be constructed in September between Szentendre and Visegrád. The new line is going across the island on two newly built cycling bridges at Szentendre and Kisoroszi, according to the plans. The bike path between Szentendre and Pomáz is ready, and it is going to be handed over soon in the next few days.
The renewal of some bike path sections of the Lake Balaton (that do not require the permission of construction) has already been started. After permission is granted, the rest of the path is going to be paved on the line of Balatonlelle-Siófok-Balatonakarattya. The construction of the bike path connecting Budapest with Lake Balaton is also going to start in September on the section between Budapest and Etyek.