Árpád Bridge or Árpád híd is a bridge in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, connecting northern Buda ( Óbuda) and Pest across the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...

. Until the inauguration of Megyeri Bridge in 2008, it was the longest bridge in Hungary, spanning about 2 km (1.24 mi) with the sections leading up to the bridge, and 928 m (0.58 mi) without them. It is 35.3 m (116 ft) wide with pedestrian and bicycle paths and a tramline. At its Óbuda end is Flórián tér, Szentlélek tér (near the Main Square of Óbuda, the

Vasarely Victor Vasarely (; born Győző Vásárhelyi, ; 9 April 1906 – 15 March 1997) was a Hungarian-French artist, who is widely accepted as a "grandfather" and leader of the Op art movement. His work entitled ''Zebra'', created in 1937, is consi ...

and Kassák Museums).

Margaret Island Margaret Island ( hu, Margitsziget ; german: Margareteninsel; tr, Kızadası) is a long island, wide, ( in area) in the middle of the Danube in central Budapest, Hungary. The island is mostly covered by landscape parks, and is a popular recrea ...

is connected to

Árpád Árpád (; 845 – 907) was the head of the confederation of the Magyar tribes at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries. He might have been either the sacred ruler or '' kende'' of the Hungarians, or their military leader or '' g ...

Bridge through an embranchment approximately in the middle of the bridge, and crosses the Southern tip of

Óbuda Island Óbuda was a town in Hungary that was merged with Buda and Pest on 17 November 1873; it now forms part of District III-Óbuda-Békásmegyer of Budapest. The name means ''Old Buda'' in Hungarian (in German, ''Alt-Ofen''). The name in Bosnian, ...

as well, although there is no road, pedestrian or any other connection whatsoever between the two. (See

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) At the Pest end, the adjoining Line 3 (North-South)

metro station A metro station or subway station is a station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the system in the ...

was called " Árpád híd" until 31 January 2020.

Construction and expansion

From the History

In earlier times there was a bridge in the same area established by the Romans, it was connecting a fort and the old Roman settlement of Aquincum. There was a plan at the beginning of the 19th century, to create a new bridge named Árpád, however the tender was announced only in 1929.

The original bridge

Construction began in 1939 by the plans of János Kossalka. It was planned to be named "Árpád Bridge" after Grand Prince Árpád, the second Grand Prince of the Magyars. Due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the bridge was finished only after the war in 1950. Because of the communist regime then ruling Hungary, the bridge was opened as

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

Bridge (Hungarian: ''Sztálin híd'').https://pestbuda.hu/en/cikk/20201109_once_known_as_stalin_bridge_arpad_bridge_turns_70 The final construction works were directed by Károly Széchy and Pál Sávoly. Although the pillars were built in their current dimensions, the original bridge contained only a 2x1 lane road, railroad tracks (for trams, but until the reconstruction of the Northern Rail Bridge the tracks were also used by cargo trains as well) with pedestrian paths. This bridge was 13 m (42.65 ft) wide, 11 meters (36 ft) of this was the road and the tracks, and an additional 1 m (3.28 ft) wide pedestrian path were on each sides. Today the tram tracks are where the original bridge was situated. The name was changed back to Árpád Bridge in 1958.

Expansion

Between 1980 and 1984, by extensive reconstruction and expansion works, two more lanes were added for cars, the pedestrian pathways were widened, the tram track was modernized and overpasses were built for the intersections at both Eastern (Pest) and Western (Buda/Óbuda) ends of Árpád Bridge. This was planned and executed in connection with the expansion of the adjacent ''Róbert Károly körút'' (further sections also called ''Hungária körút'' and ''Könyves Kálmán körút'' as well) to 2×3 lanes and double tramway tracks . The project was called Hungária körgyűrű (English: ''Hungária Beltway''), although the last third of the belt (''Könyves Kálmán körút'') was finished only around the millennium, years after the completion of Lágymányosi Bridge at the other end of the planned beltway.

References

External links