M30: ÉKM has lifted the communication ban on Strabag - report from Magyar Építők

On 21 October 2025, Építési és Közlekedési Minisztérium lifted the communication ban on Strabag in connection with the closure of the M30. As in a criminal case, where law enforcement agencies stipulate that they cannot comment on an ongoing investigation, following the forced closure of the M30, ÉKM, as the investor, exercised its right under the construction contract to prohibit the contractor from communicating on the project, subject to penalty. Naturally, this created an impossible situation, since the Minister in charge of the ministry had made political statements in various forums, in which he had repeatedly stressed the responsibility of the contractor.

The ministry lifted this ban on 21 October, after Telex.hu obtained and published an internal letter sent by the company to its employees from an unknown source on 20 October.

As early as 2024, our country carried out a study of more than 30,000 characters, involving renowned experts, on what really led to the closure of the M30 motorway. It tells us that the answers lead much further than the news reports suggest.

In the light of the above, we took the trouble to find out what the cause of the road damage and the problems surrounding the restoration, which have been plaguing the daily lives of the region's road users for a year and a half now, but which are also a warning to the entire Hungarian road profession, might be.

HOW THE TIMEFRAME FOR THE M30'S BRIGHT SECTION LOOKS

2014:
Between January and November, the feasibility study for the entire 57-kilometre section between Miskolc and Tornyosnémeti was completed. The contractor has identified a completely new route instead of the one proposed in this study.

2016-2017:
Between May 2016 and May 2017, the permit plans for the project were completed; this was when the test borings to determine soil conditions were completed, as required by the
Road Standards.

2017:
On 9 December, Strabag signed a contract for the preparation of the design, obtaining of permits and construction of the 10.4 km southern section of the project (Miskolc-Szikszó).

2018:
The contractor took over the work site in March.

2021 August:
The technical handover has taken place between the investor NIF Zrt. and Strabag-csoport.

Between December 2023 and February 2024:
On the 200 m section of the M30, a complete deformation of the track was observed at the km 38 section of the expressway in the Szikszó area. A section of road made with a 14-metre high embankment was damaged: more precisely, it moved along a slip road. In technical terms, the ground under the embankment was broken up to a depth of about seven metres. So the problem was not with the embankment but with the soil underneath the embankment, which was not affected by the intervention. A slow but clear slide towards the main road 3 through Sikszo (i.e. towards the east) has started.

Prior to the official closure of the section of the motorway concerned, the contractor asked independent experts, geotechnical engineers and geologists, to investigate the causes of the slippage of the road structure. The results were communicated to the experts of ÉKM.

February 2024:
The affected section of the M30 at Sikszo was closed by operator Magyar Koncessziós Infrastruktúra Fejlesztő Zrt. on 17 February after the road structure shifted in several places and the pavement cracked. The client immediately ordered the contractor to repair it under warranty.

March 2024:
The contractor has begun to develop proposals to remedy the problem based on the independent expert opinions previously completed. After the initial expert findings, a deep seepage pipe was constructed along the road fill by June, which will collect water from below ground level on the hill, via a seepage wall, into a seepage pipe, collect it and drain it. It was built to a depth of seven metres, for a length of about 870 metres.

August 2024:
Using data from the studies performed, three technical solution proposals were developed and delivered with expected feasibility timeframes for the successor to NIF Zrt., Építési és Közlekedési Minisztérium (ÉKM). In order to select the best possible solution from the proposals submitted by the contractor, ÉKM involved the Department of Geotechnics of the Budapest University of Technology as a sponsor.

February 2025:
The contractor has started the demolition work required for the restoration works, although ÉKM did not grant the necessary permits to start the work until early March. The work involved the complete demolition of the affected embankment section on the northbound right track for approximately 300-350 metres of the affected section. In order to reinforce the embankment foundations, 774 reinforced concrete piles, 25 metres long, were drilled to prevent the subsoil from shifting, which could cause subsidence.

In practice, the slip slab, which was formed at a depth of 7 m from the original ground level, was stabilised by stitching it to the load-bearing layer found at a depth of about 20 m. The roadway embankment was then rebuilt with a capillary breaker layer. On the left-hand track towards Miskolc, the pavement was demolished and rebuilt from the pavement level to a depth of four metres.

October 2025:
By the end of October 2025, the deadline set by the Minister of Works in February, the restoration was not completed. However, according to information reaching this newspaper, Strabag will not start construction of the subgrade until later to safely manage the risks from subgrade consolidation.

A natural consequence of building a high, massive embankment is the consolidation of the subsoil. In the field of soil mechanics and geotechnics, subsoil consolidation means that the soil is compacted under load, while the water and air in the soil are forced out of the pores. An important characteristic is that it is a prolonged process, especially in clayey soils. The rate of consolidation can only be estimated approximately. Therefore, while it is possible to plan a consolidation time that meets standards when scheduling a project, nature often overrides this.

As shown in the published timetable, the consolidation process, which was also indicated in red, was scheduled to take 2 months. Accordingly, STRABAG has also given ÉKM a timely indication that it can only start construction of the track structure to the required professional standards if the relevant road specifications allow it. In other words, if the degree of consolidation is in accordance with the technical specifications.

The road profession is in an unprecedented situation

As can be seen from the timeline above, we have entered an unprecedented chapter in the decades-long history of Hungarian expressway construction: never before has there been a case (which was previously considered normal in our eastern neighbour, for example previously considered normal), a recently opened section of road used by tens of thousands of motorists has had to be closed. What's more, this closure is not for a short period of time, and the date when the road will reopen to traffic is uncertain.

In this context, the storms that have accompanied the project's afterlife are not at all surprising; however, the current public discourse, which focuses almost exclusively on the responsibility of the contractor, is probably wrong. Indeed, a road expert who is familiar with the details of the project and who wishes to remain anonymous

basically, he told our paper that the road damage leading to the closure of the M30 is a huge warning to the whole profession and decision-makers alike!

He explained that after the period of road development in the lowlands, in the future we can expect to see road construction in the hilly areas of our country with geotechnical challenges similar to those of the M30. For this reason, it would be particularly important to draw the lessons from the major road damage at Sikszo, taking a close look at the factors of climate change that have not yet been assessed and are not taken into account at all.

The expert says it is clear,

that there may be unforeseen causes behind the damage event, after which it is time to focus on improving monitoring, basic research and road standards.

There was no sign of water, and then it appeared in the fill and under the fill

Turning to the project in question, he stressed that large public infrastructure projects are subject to multiple controls. „A project goes through a lot of players and each phase of construction is subject to rigorous scrutiny.”

He stressed that the designers can only work to the technical specification, as this is controlled by ÉKM and the engineering organisation involved in the project. „Among other things, it is prescribed at what distance excavations, drillings and soundings must be carried out in a given geological environment, from which the composition of the subsoil can be known.”

Accordingly, soil mechanics tests were carried out on the project in question during the preparation of the permit and the construction plan: boreholes were drilled to a depth of 16 metres, and no traces of water were visible at that time. However, years later, when the problem emerged, it became clear that water had appeared in the embankment in question and under the embankment.

The Hernád Valley has given extra challenges to the M30 project

On the issue of the fault on the M30, the expert said that the section of motorway concerned is characterised by complex geological conditions. This always involves greater uncertainty, as cuts and embankments are made, with a higher risk of various damage events once larger volumes are moved and greater forces are at work.„

The route along the Hernád valley presents its own challenges. „This is an area of mixed terrain, with the M30 crossing a varied geological area due to the meandering of the riverbed. It is definitely a more difficult task than the roadworks in the lowlands in recent years. These roads were built in a more uniform, geologically less stratified area, where, in addition, no major cutting and embankment works are required, so the risks are lower.”

An asymmetric charge has moved

In the case of the M30, he said that the embankment had shifted in blocks due to the inadequate bearing capacity of the layers under the embankment. The fact that the section concerned was built at the bottom of a slope, at the foot of the slope, contributed to this. „For this reason, the geometry of the embankment is asymmetrical: the height is lower on the uphill side and higher on the downhill side. In the section in question, the side towards the foot has started to move outwards, as the greater weight falls here.”

2023 was one of the rainiest years on record

The timeline of the M30 shows an acceleration of events, as the road was usable for more than two years after its opening, but then deteriorated rapidly. The expert pointed out that 2023 was the eighth wettest year on average in the country since the beginning of the 20th century. This is also when more and more groundwater can come from the underground water network, creating an increased risk. „It is also important to note that these layer waters do not appear immediately, but with a lag of several months as they infiltrate the catchment and make their way down to the valley floors.”

A technical problem of this level would have been dealt with anyway, if they had seen

Overall, he sees a dynamic in the damage to the M30 that points to unforeseen causes. „If a technical problem of this magnitude is recognised by the design and construction colleagues, they will certainly do something about it, because no one would consider a damage event of this magnitude to be a risk.”

He stressed that there are numerous side issues in the controversies surrounding the M30 that have no causal link to the damage. „In various forums, many people have raised the question of what the embankment was built of. Based on geotechnical investigations and expert reports, it can be stated that the embankment was built with the material that complies with the regulations. This was not the cause of the problem.” He also went on to rule out the possibility that the cause of the problem could be found in the preparation of the embankment base.

The drainage system was washed away by the rain, but the regulations were not followed

The challenges that road builders will face in the future, he pointed out, are the increasing number of landslides and rockfalls in Switzerland and Austria due to climate change, caused by the thawing of parts of the road that were previously held together by frost.

However, we have also seen examples of road failures caused by climate change: on the M6 motorway, damage was caused by the collapse of the motorway drainage system due to heavy rainfall. „The drainage system, which was designed and built according to the rules in force at the time, was practically washed away by the rain.”

In conclusion, he stressed that our road regulations have not yet been able to keep pace with climate change and its increasingly extreme phenomena.

/ In this case, Magyar Építők is deliberately not disclosing the sources for the report on this project, as „We are Building the Construction Industry” and not destroying it. Our report has been deemed professionally credible by those involved in the project.