The most important traffic intersection on the Buda side should have been renovated a long time ago but the specific steps have only just been taken: a contract was signed in late November and construction will begin this year, which carries the threat of traffic chaos next year.
Széll Kálmán tér (square) was called “Moszkva tér” from 1951 to 2011 and, despite the thick air of socialism around the former name, many citizens still use it. For one thing, this was the focus of the Hungarian hit film “Moszkva tér”, released in 2001 and in which it was already clear that the square was not quite in top condition. A complete renovation has been on the agenda for years, and Mayor of Budapest István Tarlós, elected in 2010, and the city council finally included the work in urban construction plans.
Budapest Transport Centre (BKK) and a business partnership composed of a construction company and a real estate developer, which applied through a public tender, have signed a contract to complete the job by spring 2016. According to BKK, they have about HUF 5.3 billion to fund the works (the exact amount in the business group’s tender and the lowest bid submitted). The contract was signed in the presence of the Deputy Mayor Balázs Szeneczey, BKK president Dávid Vitézy as client, and the leaders of the business partnership, László Szalados (KÉSZ Építő és Szerelő Zrt.) and József Wicha (WIS Holding Zrt.).
“All the construction plans and permits are available, the government, the capital and the EU have provided the necessary resources, and now we have also signed the contract over the construction works,” Vitézy said. “So we can guarantee that finally, after more than two decades of waiting, the comprehensive reconstruction of the Széll Kálmán square can be started and carried out.”
Vitézy said reconstruction of the tram tracks is fully financed by the EU and as such must be completed before the end of 2015. Overall, 20% of funding will come from the EU and 80% from the Hungarian government.
More cyclist- and pedestrian-friendly
According to BKK, Széll Kálmán tér will get a “fully new image” that will be able to meet today’s traffic requirements better and “strengthen the positions of the local cyclists and pedestrians”. Cyclists should be able to access and cross the square from any direction easily and safely, an improvement on previous plans that did not contain any bicycle lanes or similar markings (there is a video titled “Széll Kálmán tér 3D” on YouTube).
Life will be easier for people in wheelchairs, with obstruction-free paths and an escalator to the bus stops in Várfok utca. The bus terminuses will be made more accessible to pedestrians by reducing the size of the bus parking places and rebuilding the traffic junction at the north-western side of the square (by the end of Szilágyi Erzsébet fasor).
The current sales stalls will disappear, the central building will get a “unified architectural image” as BKK expresses it, and the green surfaces will be enlarged. A new end station for the cogwheel railway will be included. The tram stops will be covered and BKK will establish a new customer service centre.
Traffic chaos threatens
As the first step of the extensive project, some parts will be dismantled and removed this year. Construction works that will influence the traffic situation will begin in February with the aim of taking exactly one year.
Traffic from Szilágyi Erzsébet fasor and from Déli pályaudvar (Southern train station) will be limited to one lane at the beginning of 2015. The tram line from Hűvösvölgy will stop at the end of the square during the construction period. Tram lines 4 and 6 from Nagy körút (the grand ring road) will not stop at Széll Kálmán tér from next spring for three months, just like the trains of metro line 2 on weekday evenings and weekends (especially next summer ).
“We are trying however, to keep the traffic going through the square at all times,” BKK said.
