Slovensky neni, tak aspon takto… (kto ma predplatne Nka, moze doplnit)
The traffic on the bypass due to the Bátka-Füge road closure is dangerous and huge
Emese of Ibos Emese of Ibos
The contractor claims that the entire road closure on the Bátka-Füge section will be lifted at the end of November. Photo - Zoltán Schnelczer
The contractor claims that the entire road closure on the Bátka-Füge section will be lifted at the end of November. Photo - Zoltán Schnelczer
Second- and third-order roads that wear out quickly, increased travel time, a three-hundred-euro toll, truck and car traffic that ignores the speed limit - this is what the residents of the Rimaszombati district, who are directly affected by the renovation of a part of highway 16, have to face.
Rimaszombat and its surroundings in the focus of our day. We write about the stories and problems of Hungarians in Slovakia, directly from the regions. You can only find these stories from southern Slovakia here.
The main road E571 between the villages of Bátka (Bátka) and Füge (Figa) in the Rimaszombat district, which connects Rimaszombat with Tornalja, was closed a month ago. The Slovak Road Management Company (SSC) is carrying out comprehensive renovation works on the section.
After two years of preparatory work, the renovation of the affected section began in March by closing the road in stages, in one lane.
Our article reveals:
how much has the traffic passing through Bátka decreased since the diversion,
why pedestrian crossings are not designated in those settlements where there are no sidewalks,
whether the road construction is progressing according to the schedule, and when the complete renovation of the 4-kilometer section between Bátka and Füge can be completed.
In April, however, they were already thinking about diverting traffic, because the road was in a much worse condition than previously assumed. When removing the old asphalt, they were also faced with the fact that there is no foundation for the road on the affected four-kilometer section. After removing the entire cover, a new foundation must be built. It also turned out that the Rakytník drawbridge cannot be renovated with the technology they originally wanted.
When we were there, they were working on the widening of highway 16. Photo - Zoltán Schnelczer
For this reason, practically the entire planning documentation and the budget had to be modified. During the 3.5 million euro investment, the road will be widened on the affected line of highway 16, the bridges and water sinks will be renovated, a new foundation will be built for the highway, and the new asphalt pavement will be equipped with safety elements.
The section between Rimaszombat and Tornalja is expected to be completely closed until the end of November. The Slovak Road Management Company (SSC) announced back in the summer that part of the work could only be carried out with complete road closures.
After months of consultation, the bypass road was diverted through the villages of Bátka, Radnót, Rimaszécs, Csíz, Abafalva - here it joins the international road 67 - and Szentkirály, partly on second- and third-order roads. The affected villages opposed the designated route for weeks.
They asked for the placement of traffic retarders and the designation of pedestrian crossings, since there are no sidewalks in some settlements, so children and adults can only get to kindergarten, school, and shopping by walking alongside vehicles. Several mayors are also afraid of the asphalt covering of their secondary and tertiary roads, some of these county roads have recently been renovated. The SSC, on the other hand, argues that there is no other route to which the traffic could be diverted.
According to János Rencsok, the mayor of the village of Rakottyás, the locals are not particularly complaining about the road closure. “To Rimaszombat, the same distance in kilometers must be traveled via Uzapanyi (Uzovská Panica) and Bakta (Bakta) as Bátka, i.e. on the usual line. Now we can only get to Bátka with an extra 4 kilometers, the school bus also uses a detour, but the more adventurous ones also use dirt roads,” says János Rencsok.
According to the contractor, they can keep the schedule so far. Photo - Zoltán Schnelczer
Traffic is down
Péter Hencz, the mayor of Bátka, said that the traffic passing through the village has decreased significantly since the diversion. “We did a traffic count the week after the closure, we counted 1,400 trucks and 2,900 cars. In the next few days, we would like to repeat the count in order to have a basis for comparison, but before the closure, the number of cars passing through Bátka was between 7,500 and 8,000 per day,” said the mayor, adding that the traffic would probably be distributed.
Some of the cars and trucks going to Tornalja can drive on the section between Rimaszombat–Jánosi–Rimaszécs, while those driving longer distances can drive on the Hungarian route.
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The sidewalks are being renovated
Due to the diversion of traffic, the traffic police has so far not allowed the renovation of the settlement’s sidewalk, for which they won 94,000 euros last year thanks to a tender. Although with a significant delay, work will begin this week on a section to which traffic has been diverted.
“Another project was also approved, now the public procurement procedure is being checked, but we will probably not start implementing it until next year,” said Péter Hencz. He added that the contractor of the renovation promised that as soon as the traffic is diverted back to the main road, the road leading through the settlement will be restored to its original condition. The question is, however, what will be done with the section between Bátka and Balogújfalu, which was already in extremely bad condition before the diversion.
We also experienced that drivers do not respect the speed limit. Photo - Zoltán Schnelczer
The restriction is not respected
The maximum permitted speed was reduced to 60 km/h between villages and 30 km/h in settlements. However, in the affected villages, they usually complain that motorists do not comply with the restriction.
“We installed a speedometer and posted a model police officer, we were also promised that the speed will be measured regularly on the affected sections, but the residents do not see a police officer on the designated bypass road. The police claim that they measure the speed from a moving car, but in my opinion, there would be fewer speeders if the police measured the speed statically,” says the mayor.
According to experience so far, there is noticeably more traffic on the bypass on Sundays, Mondays and Fridays. Photo - Zoltán Schnelczer
There are no sidewalks or crosswalks
Aladár Bari, the mayor of Radnót (Radnovce), also complains that almost no trucks obey the speed limit in the village.
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