The The MÜPA arts complex, photo Mariann Simon

The Hungária Ring Road of Budapest

In 1872, the Metropolitan Public Works Council decided on three rings for the capital of Budapest: the inner ring (Small Boulevard), the outer ring (Great Boulevard) and the suburban ring. Completing the Great Boulevard – including the two bridges connecting the Pest side with Buda – took about 20 years. In contrast, the suburban ring road was fully opened only after more than 120 years. The long construction time allows us to show how ideas have changed concerning the function of a city ring.

The middle section was developed the first. The concept was to create an urban promenade surrounded by apartment and public buildings in a green environment, as the ring’s designated line was located on the outskirts of the town. The northern section of the road was opened by the middle of the 20th century when the Árpád Bridge was completed. By then, the road had become important as a public transport connection. A housing estate was built at the bridgehead, embedded in green, but a political centre was developed instead of a public centre for the inhabitants. In the late 1960s – touched by motorisation – traffic engineers worked out a highway concept for the Hungária Ring Road, which politics later dropped because of the lack of funds and the meantime extension of the town. At last, the southern section of the ring was built due to factories and industrial facilities on the territory. Hungary undertook the organisation of the EXPO 2005 in Budapest, which forced the building of the Rákóczi Bridge leading to Buda and complete the whole Hungária Ring Road. The World’s Fair in Budapest was skipped, but the last section of the road was built in one impulse. Its primary purpose was to close the ring road and give way to traffic. Building functions on both sides of the road meet this requirement, especially for customers arriving by car.

DOI: https://doi 10.31577/archandurb.2024.58.3-4.2

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