Building in harmony with the environment – a Construction Industry Excellence Award plaque was unveiled on the Danube

On 18 June, the plaque commemorating the Construction Industry Excellence Award won by the project was unveiled on the Pál Tomori Bridge. The 946.2-metre-long, 10-span bridge, built between Paks and Kalocsa, is of historic significance to the entire bridge-building profession.

This is because the first extradosed bridge structure has been built over the River Danube; it is the third of its kind in Hungary overall, and also the largest of its kind to date.

This development has quite a legacy

In front of the plaque unveiled at Pier 6 of the bridge, the project manager of the main contractor, Duna Group, was the first to give a speech.

István Wunderlich said that those involved in the project can look upon the bridge with pride, as its handover in June 2024 has been followed by numerous accolades:

• In May 2025, he was awarded the ‘Steel Structure of the Year’ award from MAGÉSZ, the Hungarian Steel Structures Association;
• it came a creditable second in the ‘Bridge of the Year 2025’ public vote;
• Several experts involved in the bridge project were honoured: as our newspaper has also reported, In 2025, the ‘Bridge Engineer of the Year’ award was won by István Wunderlich, whilst the ‘Young Engineer of the Year’ award was won by Gábor Horváth, also a specialist on the Duna Group project; furthermore, István Tímár, a specialist on the A-Híd Zrt. project, was also a winner.
• and last December it also won the Construction Industry Quality Award in the transport infrastructure category.

He was even praised during the broadcast of the Tour de Hongrie

Later in the event, Szabolcs Nyíri, chairman of Magyar Út- és Vasútügyi Társaság, emphasised that building a bridge over the Danube is a colossal undertaking: „From a professional perspective, this represents the pinnacle of domestic construction work.” He also highlighted the fact that the bridge built between Paks and Kalocsa, with its aesthetic design, does not detract from the landscape but rather complements it.

He added that it was lovely to hear the reporter exclaim in amazement when he caught sight of the bridge during the live broadcast of the Tour de Hongrie cycling race: „That’s beautiful!”. Szabolcs Nyíri said that this was a fitting message to the profession.

Engineering feats and respect for nature are not mutually exclusive

Mónika Németh, curator of the Construction Industry Master Award Foundation, also spoke at the plaque-unveiling ceremony. In her speech, she pointed out that the extradosed bridge combines the advantages of cable-stayed and beam bridges, enabling larger spans to be spanned with lower pylon heights. „At the same time, the judging panel considers the responsible approach that ensures the structure blends into its surroundings to be just as important: it does not dominate the landscape, but blends into it harmoniously.”

He pointed out that the bridge and its route also affected the Natura 2000 area. „The design and construction of the bridge have demonstrated that engineering feats and respect for nature are not mutually exclusive.” To back this up, he went on to detail the project’s exemplary environmental protection measures:

• they ensured continuous specialist nature conservation supervision throughout the project;
• in collaboration with experts from the Danube-Drava National Park and the Kiskunság National Park, they have installed special concrete bat boxes;
• around 10,000 Danube Valley starflowers were transplanted;
• A completely new native habitat has also been created in the Natura 2000 area.

To round off the event, the Construction Industry Quality Awards were presented to the companies that had participated in the project as subcontractors.

The Steel Millennium Kft. project received the award for the installation of the floodplain bridge; the PANNON-FREYSSINET Kft. project for the installation of the extradosed cable-stayed bridge; whilst the Hídépítő Zrt. project received the award for the installation of the riverbed bridge.