The reconstruction of a winding stretch of Road 25 spanning two counties has been completed

Although construction work was still in full swing in December, two lanes had already been opened on the previously closed section of Main Road 25 – <a href="https://magyarepitok.hu/utepites/2025/12/as we reported earlier. The upgrade of the main road in question was completed this spring:

On 13 March, the 2×1 carriageway plus hard shoulder on the section between Szentdomonkos and Borsodnádasd was officially opened.

The project is part of the Építési és Közlekedési Minisztérium investment, under the HE-DO) and the SWIETELSKY Magyarország Kft.) consortium, was realised with a gross budget of 37 billion forints from domestic sources, as part of the project entitled ‘Development of National Roads 23 and 25 between Bátonyterenye and Ózd’.

Due to the mountainous terrain, the project posed a significant challenge

Motorways are important, as they form the country’s transport arteries, but the roads that lead us to the motorways, or which are essential for running our daily errands, are just as important,” said József Pántya, Deputy State Secretary for Road and Railway Construction at Építési és Közlekedési Minisztérium, at the site.

„The most challenging section of the entire 85-kilometre stretch of Route 25 has now been completed. This winding section posed a serious challenge even for the engineers,” he emphasised, highlighting the climbing lane – long needed due to the mountainous terrain – which will make it easier for slower vehicles to travel in future. Traffic will be safer as there will be less need to overtake.

Also present at the event and delivering speeches were László Tasó, Ministerial Commissioner responsible for the development of road and rail transport in North-East Hungary, and Dr Gábor Csuzda, Chair of the 3rd constituency of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County.

A section of road with heavy traffic has been resurfaced

The upgrade was necessary because the previous road between Szentdomonkos and Borsodnádasd had a narrow carriageway, and in several places the speed limit was restricted to 30 km/h.

This section of road handles significant long-distance (Ózd–Budapest) and local bus services, as well as freight traffic in the region, as Main Road 25 is one of the main routes leading to Ózd and the national border (Bánréve).

The secondary main road was constructed with a 2×1+hard shoulder layout, a carriageway width of 10.25 metres and a verge width of 2 metres. As part of the project, adequate drainage of rainwater was also addressed; culverts were constructed beneath the road at natural watercourses, the largest of which has a diameter of 1.8 metres.

The ground was reinforced using retaining walls, a technique used for the first time in the country

On the mountainous, winding section, the construction of the additional hard shoulder required the installation of soil retention structures (so-called retaining walls):

On the hillside, the remaining soil was reinforced with gabion retaining walls, whilst the slopes facing the valley – over a length of approximately 2,049 metres – have so far been widened and reinforced using a technology not previously employed in the country, known as reinforced earth retaining walls. The unique feature of the reinforced earth retaining walls is that, following the construction of a temporary earth support, layers 50 cm thick, separated from one another by geogrids, were built on top of one another to a height of 8–9 metres, using approximately 80,000 m³ of crushed stone.

A new bus stop and turning circle have been built in Egercsehi, which will remain in use in the future. The project also included a bridge-building component: the demolition of the bridge over the Karácsonyi-völgyi stream, followed by the construction of a new 7.4-metre-long bridge.

A complete resurfacing of the Heves County section of Main Road No. 25, covering a length of nearly 10 km, has been carried out, whilst localised resurfacing work has been completed on the section of the diversion road that forms part of Main Road No. 25. From mid-December 2025, traffic was able to use two lanes in each direction on this section; thanks to the handover, from 13 March, subject to periodic closures and temporary diversions, vehicles can now use the full width of the road, i.e. two lanes in each direction plus a hard shoulder.