The reopening of Szabadság híd after a two-month closure to all traffic for renovation work allowed the bridge to become a popular pedestrian meeting point for picnics, yoga, salsa lessons, parties and romantic dates. The fun has highlighted citizens’ wish for a pedestrian-only bridge across the Danube.
Many Budapesters don’t want to lose this taste of freedom: groups have formed on Facebook to demand that Szabadság híd (“Freedom Bridge” in English) be closed to traffic every summer from now on, plus pressure to build a pedestrian bridge.
There is no agreement about where such a bridge would be built. The idea is not new: requests to the authorities in the past 25 years have resulted in numerous plans for crossings at different points of the river, with no result.
One proposal emerged during the preparations for a world exhibition planned for 1996, when a footbridge would connect the shores somewhere between the Rákóczi and Petőfi bridges. In 2005 four Budapest Universities, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Zoltán Bay Foundation for Applied Research commissioned architect József Finta to design a bridge.
His structure would have included art galleries, university clubs, cafés, restaurants and a scientific centre. Pedestrians would be able to cross in the blink of an eye thanks to rapidly moving walkways, as in airports. The ambitious project remains on the drawing board.
The same is true for a footbridge between the Petőfi and Szabadság bridges, planned when Budapest was vying to be a European Capital of Culture in 2010. The honour went to Pécs, and the plans sank to the bottom of the Danube.
Likewise, the plans by Gábor Zoboki’s architect office for not one but two pedestrian bridges. They were supposed to be built far to the south, even beyond Rákóczi bridge. Just for the sake of completeness, we have to mention that the spectacular plan for a monorail connecting the Citadel on Gellért Hill to the opposite bank was similarly lost to oblivion.
Open for pedestrians on weekends
Gábor Demszky, Mayor of Budapest from 1990 to 2010, also felt it was his duty to take on the challenge. However, instead of planning and building a separate footbridge, he used to close the Chain Bridge to traffic on summer weekends. This was a practice welcomed by citizens but it did not represent a permanent solution.
Upon Demszky handing over office to the current Mayor, István Tarlós, who favours a car-friendly city, this practice has become a thing of the past.
However, Tarlós is not per se against the building of a footbridge, and his electoral program has specifically mentioned such a plan to connect Vigadó tér in Pest with the Castle Bazaar on the Buda side. While this plan enjoys the open support of the Fidesz government and even Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, for the moment it does not look like Budapest will receive a new bridge in front of the Castle anytime in the near future.
Recent plans
Other plans for footbridges remain under discussion. In a development program accepted by the City Council there is a chapter about creating new infrastructures for pedestrians and cyclists, and four further plans for footbridges.
One of them would be built in the southern part of Budapest, between Molnár and Csepel Island, where there is already a BKK ferry transporting passengers today. Two further bridges are planned in Óbuda: one to connect the shipyard island in the north with the mainland and one in the southern part of the island to connect it with the Árpád bridge. Margaret Island could also be connected with the Pest side via a footbridge around District XIII’s Dráva utca.
Should Budapest host the 2024 Olympic Summer Games, there could be another three to four bridge plans up for discussion, according to index.hu. These would primarily serve to connect games venues on Csepel Island with the Pest mainland, and Margaret Island with the Buda shores around District III’s Szépvölgyi út.
Meanwhile, expect nothing for the next four to five years. Apart from spectacular 3D models and draft plans, the two months of traffic-free days on Szabadság híd are as good as it gets for now.
