Skip to main content

Upgrade set to start of Budapest’s Széchenyi Chain Bridge

Budapest’s iconic Széchenyi Chain Bridge that was opened in 1849 is set for a €73 million upgrade starting this summer, according to Hungarian media. Work will include revamping of a nearby tunnel in the Hungarian capital with completion set for the end of 2019. The suspension Chain Bridge spans the River Danube between Buda and Pest and was designed by English engineer William Tierney Clark following an initiative by the Count István Széchenyi. It is a larger scale version of Clark's earlier Marlow B
April 4, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
RSSBudapest’s iconic Széchenyi Chain Bridge that was opened in 1849 is set for a €73 million upgrade starting this summer, according to Hungarian media.

Work will include revamping of a nearby tunnel in the Hungarian capital with completion set for the end of 2019.

The suspension Chain Bridge spans the River Danube between Buda and Pest and was designed by English engineer William Tierney Clark following an initiative by the Count István Széchenyi. It is a larger scale version of Clark's earlier Marlow Bridge, across the River Thames in Marlow, near London. Its 202m centre span was one of the longest in the world when bridge was opened.

It was designed in sections and shipped from the United Kingdom for assemble in Budapest. The two-lane deck is nearly 15m wide and the iron chains on which the road-deck hangs are supported by two 48m river piers in classicist style. The bridge was rebuilt in the late 1940s after being blown up by the retreating German army in early 1945.

Related Content

  • Pattullo Bridge deck near completion
    July 29, 2025
    For several weeks, crews have been installing concrete deck panels, steel girders and stay cables outward from the towers of the bridge that spans the Fraser River near Vancouver, Canada.
  • Parsons wins bridge deal in Arkansas
    January 17, 2017
    Parsons is heading the project to build the I-40 White River Bridge and approaches in the US state of Arkansas. The contract is to build a 1.92km bridge for the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department and Parsons is leading the joint venture that also includes CJ Mahan construction. The new bridge will be constructed some 61m upstream from the existing structure. The existing White River Bridge has four 3.66m-wide lanes and 61m of vertical clearance between piers for commercial navigation
  • Guatemala’s Inter-Oceanic corridor is of national/public interest
    July 22, 2013
    The Guatemalan government has recently announced that the Inter-Oceanic corridor project, involving a four-lane motorway, a railway, two ports and industrial parks, is of national and public interest, as it will allow the country to position itself strategically for global trade. Such a large scale project is expected to attract foreign investment, create new jobs and enlarge government coffers in terms of taxes. Infrastructure investments of US$ 7 billion- $8 billion have been calculated. The first interna
  • Giving four hours back to the day… and much more
    October 7, 2019
    A 20km long elevated expressway in Dhaka will be one of Bangladesh’s first Public Private Partnership transport projects – words and pictures by Ruby Kitching, on behalf of Mott MacDonald.