MOST OF MÓRICZ ZSIGMOND KÖRTÉR IS OPENED TO THE PUBLIC AGAIN

The contractor has demolished most of the fence around the work site at Móricz Zsigmond körtér, and so the public of the area and traffic can take possession of the Circus with the exception of the metro exits and the Mushroom building. In the framework of the Metro Line M4 project and in connection to building the station, the pavement of the square was replaced, new elevated platforms were built for the trams, the area of the Saint Emmerich (Imre) statue was newly landscaped, with trees and bushes having been planted for the benefit of those walking or wanting to take a rest.

On the request of Mayor István Tarlós, the Budapest Transport Centre (BKK) together with the District XI municipality taking into account all those concerned, had reviewed the designs for the surface reinstatement of Móricz Zsigmond körtér back in 2011, and made a proposal, which the Municipal Assembly went on to adopt in the beginning of 2012. The works that had begun earlier were thus resumed. According to the new concept, a major city-centre space will thus come into being with a decreased through-traffic burden in several stages. Former vehicle roads will be replaced by bicycle and pedestrian routes, where only public transport and local goods supply vehicles will be let in. As a central city space, the circus requires certain changes in respect of buses and trams, the routes of several buses will be changed, but the entire modification process will be completed in concert with the end of the M4 Project and its related investments.

In the spring of 2013, the earlier lime paving of the square, which had cracked and was slippery, giving rise to much public complaint, began to be replaced by higher standard non-slippery paving stones. Parallel, the renovation of the Mushroom building also commenced in a project run by the District XI municipality. The different schedules of the works by the various contractors were coordinated. The Mushroom housed the BKV transformers supplying the current for the trams on Bartók Béla út, Fehérvári út and partly on Villányi út were moved to the new metros station and the defective cables were replaced in the summer. This phase of the work influences the surface reinstatement related to the metro project, and so the surroundings of the Mushroom will be completed only in March 2014.

The pavement mentioned is what has been completed now. At the head of Fehérvári út, the tram stop was completed together with the glass booth fitting in well with the other surface buildings of the new metro line, and the platform is elevated to suit the trams to be purchased. The main ventilation shaft of the metro station reaches to the surface at the tram stop, as do the two lifts, which provide fully accessible entries to the metro trains. With a different pattern, the reinforced pavement for the route of no. 33 buses was also completed, which leads traffic from Fehérvári út towards Karinthy Frigyes út through the Circus. The heads of Fehérvári út, Váli utca and Karinthy Frigyes út have also been renovated, as were the terminus of the no. 6 trams and the walkway in front of the semi-circular buildings, where the statue of Zsigmond Móricz, the novelist, found its final place. The city-bound stop of the no. 7 buses and the area around the Saint Emmerich statue was landscaped, with new trees and bushes having been planted. The wall-to-wall renovation of Bartók Béla út and leading the no. 61 tram across square and the large pedestrian subway had been completed earlier, but in the framework of the metro project.

Mayor’s Office of the Municipality of Budapest
BKV Zrt. DBR Metro Project Directorate

Photos by Szabolcs Pető, DBR