Hungária körgyűrű (lit. Hungary beltway or Hungary boulevard) is the longest and busiest boulevard, also the widest city street in Budapest, Hungary. It is 13 km long and has 6–10 traffic lanes with a rapid tram line on the median of the boulevard. It consists of three parts: Róbert Károly körút, Hungária körút and Könyves Kálmán körút.

Róbert Károly Boulevard

Location

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It starts by the Pester side of Árpád Bridge and crosses Váci út, Lehel út, M3 motorway, Thököly út, Kerepesi út, Kőbányai út, Üllői út, Gyáli út (M5 motorway) and Soroksári út. Róbert Károly körút part lies in Angyalföld (13th district), Hungária körút (bordering the Városliget, where it meets Ajtósi Dürer sor) in Zugló (14th district), Kőbánya (10th district) and Józsefváros (8th district), Könyves Kálmán körút in Kőbánya, Józsefváros and Ferencváros (9th district).

History

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The construction started in 1980, the first part was completed in 1984 with the new Árpád Bridge (2×3 traffic lanes and 2 tram tracks). To make way for the urban highway, the majority of the small houses on the planned route were demolished. The last section was finished in 2000, Rákóczi Bridge was built in 1995. Nowadays the boulevard doesn't have a uniform facade, there are 100-year-old rural houses, socialist block of flats and modern high-rise office buildings along Hungária körgyűrű. According to some sources, it is one of the strangest streets in Budapest.

Notable points

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National Police HQ
 
National Pension Insurance
 
László Papp Budapest Sports Arena
 
Groupama Arena

Sources

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  • Budapest City Atlas, Dimap-Szarvas, Budapest, 2011, ISBN 978-963-03-9124-5
  • Preisich Gábor: Budapest városépítésének története, Műszaki Könyvkiadó, Budapest, 1998, ISBN 963-16-1467-0
  • The strangest street in Budapest (with pictures, in Hungarian)