Historic moment, the westernmost section of the M44 is the link to the Viharsarok motorway

The Hungarian road building industry has reached a historic moment: the westernmost section of the M44 motorway was opened in the Kecskemét area on 15 April. The event was attended by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. On 15 April, in the early hours of the morning, the new section of the M44 motorway was opened to traffic.

In the project, which was completed with the handover on Tuesday morning, a 32.3-kilometre section was built between Szentkirály and Kecskemét as part of the Duna Group Hódút Építő Kft. generic construction. After the completion of the Építési és Közlekedési Minisztérium project, it is now possible to drive on a four-lane road from the M5 to Békéscsaba, thus completing the Viharsarok expressway link.

In a series of projects launched 8.5 years ago, a total of 127 kilometres of four-lane roads were built between Békéscsaba and the M5 motorway:

• Between Kondoros and Békéscsaba 18 km section built;
• on the longest stretch 62 km of track completed between Tiszakürt and Kondoros, which included the construction of a new bridge over the Körös;
• the 10 km Lakitelek-Tiszakürt section built together with the new Tiszaug bridge;
• the next section 4.6 km built between Szentkirály and Tiszakürt, with a number of other improvements, including the bypass of szentkirály - together;
• and the final step was the 32.3 km Kecskemét-Szentkirály section opened today.

Decade-old road record on the first section to be opened

The implementation phase of the project, which enjoys comprehensive and consistent developer support, December 2016: this is when the foundation stone was laid for the longest section (Tiszakürt-Kondoros, 62 km), which was built by a consortium consisting of Duna Aszfalt Zrt., Hódút Kft., A-Híd Zrt., EuroAszfalt Kft., Soltút Kft. and Swietelsky Magyarország Kft. consortium in October 2019 with a decade-long road construction record. Prior to this, the last time such a long expressway section was completed in the country was in 2002, and there has been no precedent since then.

A little over a year later, in December 2020, the Kondoros-Békéscsaba section, constructed by Duna Aszfalt Zrt., was inaugurated. which was opened to motorists a month and a half earlier than planned.

The next milestone came a year later, when December 2021 with the completion of the Tiszakürt-Lakitelek section, built with the unique Tisza Bridge structure. The fourth four-lane Tisza bridge in Hungary, the crossing has a total length of 556 metres and is unique in Europe due to its elliptical arch.

In the next step, the Lakitelek-Szentkirály section, which was handed over in May 2024, was in fact an extremely complex project element. In addition to the construction of the four-lane road, several other elements were implemented to ensure that the increased traffic coming from the M44 could reach Kecskemét without disruption: key two-lane roads in the area were renovated or built, including the Szentkirály bypass road has also been completed.

The latest link in the project series was the 32.3 km Kecskemét-Szentkirály section, opened today, which took just 8.5 and a half years to build a more than 120 km expressway linking a remote county town.

Road upgrades continue with motorway expansion

Speaking at the inauguration, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stressed that since 2010 the length of motorways has increased one and a half times. "The government has decided that all cities with county rights will be accessible by motorway, and in recent years Eger, Szolnok, Salgótarján, Sopron and Kaposvár have been connected to the motorway network," he said.

He added that with the opening of the M44 road, Békéscsaba will also "join this club". He also said that they would not stop there: in the next few years, the M1, M3 and M7 motorways will be widened to three lanes, and the M8 motorway will be built, allowing travel between western and eastern Hungary without having to go through Budapest.

Kunság is not only important for agriculture

Mr Orbán stressed that Kunság is the centre of the country, but this region today not only provides the country with agricultural products and the beauty of the Great Plain, but has also become an industrial powerhouse. As examples, he cited the Mercedes factory in Kecskemét and the automotive suppliers next to it, Univer, which he called one of the prides of the Hungarian food industry, the Airbus investment in Gyula, the coffee machine company in Sarva, and the Duna Aszfalt, without which, he added, there would be no road to pass today.

This connection ensured that the traffic could start

In his speech, the Prime Minister also pointed out that the construction of the M44 is not yet finished, because although there is a direct link from Békéscsaba to Budapest, the reverse is not yet the case, and the necessary development will be completed later.

As previously reported by our newspaper, as part of the investment related to the M44 motorway, work is currently underway on the construction of a motorway junction at the intersection of the M44 expressway, the M5 motorway and the 5 main road is currently underway as part of the Hódút Építő Kft. project. Last October, ÉKM held a press conference at the junction under construction: according to the announcement at the time, the Kecskemét-Szentkirály section, which has now been handed over, has been connected to main road 5, and also to the M5 motorway from the direction of Békéscsaba, thus ensuring that traffic could already start on the westernmost section of the M44 during the construction of the junction in question.

More than 1500 people working on sections of the M44

Sándor Lezsák, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and Fidesz Member of Parliament for Bács-Kiskun County, spoke at the ceremony,

that more than 1,500 people worked on the construction of the entire 127-kilometre section of the M44 motorway, which was built with almost HUF 543 billion of domestic budget funding over nine years.

He said that for the people living between the Danube and the Tisza, today is an extraordinary day, as "they have been waiting for more than three decades for us to cut the red-white-green ribbon symbolizing the handover and takeover".

Parking spaces built with solar shading brackets

According to the press release issued by ÉKM for the press event, the 14-unit artificial disc section, which has just been opened, has been built with the crossing national roads and dirt roads above the motorway, while the Cegléd-S Szeged railway line has been routed under the planned motorway. As part of the development, the Csillik Rest at the beginning of the section has been equipped with motion-sensitive street lighting.

For those heading towards Budapest (left side as shown in the layout), parking spaces with solar shading brackets have been added to reduce the overheads of the rest area.

Source : Link