The capacity-increasing investment of Bethlen Street and University Avenue in Debrecen will begin. László Papp, the Mayor of Debrecen, Levente Fodor and Csaba Papp, the local government representative, reported on the works on 17 September 2021 in a press conference.
Mayor László Papp said: 2021 is the year of transport development in Debrecen. To this end, work will begin on September 20 at another site, in connection with the capacity-increasing investment in Bethlen Street and University Avenue. Here, a total of 30,000 square meters of road surface will be renewed on a route totaling 1,800 meters, from the intersection of Bethlen Street and Hunyadi Street to No. 54 University Avenue.
Work will begin on the section between King Louis the Great Square and the University Square roundabout. The contractor will provide two-way traffic on the lane used by many so far for parking – where parking will thus be temporarily eliminated – and on the adjacent lane. The bus lane between the roundabout on University Square and King Louis the Great Square and the adjacent lane will be closed, and the public utility replacement works will begin there.
Strabag Zrt. won the European Union open public procurement procedure for its construction. The total value of the investment as part of the Debrecen 2030 program is HUF 1,492,250,000 gross and it is fully implemented with government support.
Nodes with traffic lights:
- During the construction works, the three existing traffic light junctions will be renewed, so there will be new, modern LED traffic lights at Bethlen utca and Mester utca, as well as at Bethlen utca, Egyetem boulevard, Honvéd utca, and at the junction of Füredi út and Egyetem boulevard.
- At the intersection of Bethlen Street and Thaly Kálmán Street, as well as University Avenue and Ibolya Street, new traffic light junctions will be established for safe pedestrian crossings and more dynamic traffic management.
Surveillance cameras:
At five junctions – Hunyadi Street, Mester Street and Bethlen Street; Bethlen utca and Honvéd utca, Egyetem avenue and Füredi út, Nagy Lajos király tér, Egyetem tér roundabout – space surveillance cameras will be placed.
Other works:
In the area affected by the road reconstruction, 50 new landfills and 50 new benches will be installed to replace the existing ones, and the public lighting network will also be upgraded.
Traffic lanes:
- From the junction of Bethlen utca, Hunyadi utca and Mester utca in the direction of Egyetem tér, on the left side of the road, the road is widened by 3.5 meters to Honvéd utca.
- At the junction of Füredi út and Egyetem avenue, the current traffic lanes will be expanded in the direction of Egyetem tér, thus creating independent left, straight and straight-right lanes.
- From the direction of Egyetem tér towards Füredi út, an independent left lane and two separate straight lanes will be formed, keeping the independent lane turning to the right.
Parking lots:
- On the odd side of Bethlen Street, the stop lane remains.
- University Avenue 15-19. will remain open. There will be a traffic lane here in the direction of University Square.
- 14-28 University Avenue. the possibility of parking will remain in the section between as the pavement will be widened by 0.5 meters to the west and there will be two lanes towards the city center.
- 35-55 University Avenue. The possibility of parking will be maintained in the section between.
- 38-54 University Avenue. Parking will continue to be provided on the section between.
- 57-69 University Avenue. Until this time, parking will continue to be provided, and there will be two traffic lanes for road users in the direction of University Square until the connection to University Square.
Bus stops:
- The current bus stop in front of University Avenue No. 3 will be in the bay.
- The bus stop in front of 56 University Avenue will be moved to King Louis the Great Square.
- The bus stop on the corner of Sestakert Street will be relocated to No. 52 University Avenue, where it will be a bush. Those traveling from the University Square towards the city center will have two traffic lanes here.
Due to the complexity of the investment, the contractor must complete the works by the summer of 2022, but László Papp expressed hope that this could happen sooner.
According to the municipal representative Levente Fodor, the north-south route represented by Bethlen Street and University Avenue is of decisive importance in the city. Expanding its capacity is, therefore, a welcome event. The MP thanked for the fact that most of the current parking spaces could be retained – for example, on the section of Bethlen Street between Hunyadi Street and Honvéd Street, parking would remain on the odd side – as this was an important aspect for the residents of the area.
He emphasized that the sidewalk will be completely renewed from Honvéd Street to the end of the University Avenue, which is important from both traffic safety and aesthetic point of view. It is also important that Bethlen Street and Thaly Kálmán Street become a traffic light intersection, which will make pedestrian traffic safer.
The local government representative Csaba Papp expressed his pleasure in connection with the fact that two significant transport development investments are taking place in his area. One of the western small roundabout III. and the other is a capacity-building investment on Bethlen Street and the University. The interconnection of these two routes will mean a very high throughput capacity. For those who live here, this will also mean that there will be less congestion and thus a significant reduction in air pollution from traffic. The MP is confident that this investment will also help make the city more livable.
The investment will be on schedule with temporary traffic restrictions. Therefore, the local government asks those walking around the work areas not to drive as usual, but to follow the current, posted signs!
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